To be honest, Joshua 20 didn't seem to me like it really fit with 1 Corinthians 9, unless I were to start really pulling things apart and took the time to "make it fit." So, I just focused in on Paul's letter to Corinth.
1 Corinthians 9 struck a nice chord in me, and by "nice" I mean "smacked me in the face until I cried a little." Paul is too convicting for me most days, and today was not an exception. First, I loved how the entire chapter (at least in my Bible) was titled "Paul Surrenders His Rights." In my head as I was starting to read this chapter, I was thinking, "Great! This is already convicting me, and I haven't even read any verses..."
Anyway, Paul is defending some decisions that he has made for the sake of furthering the Gospel. Then one of my favorite verses of all time, and especially in this chapter, comes along:
"...I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." 1 Cor. 9:22b
I know I've said this before, but GAH! Why'd you have to go and say that Paul? You mean I need to do whatever it takes to bring people to the Kingdom? You mean I have to give up my "rights" so that people will know Jesus? Paul even went so far as to say that he would live under the law to save the Jews and give himself a little more freedom from the law, without sinning, to save the Gentiles.
The questions I'm asking myself this morning, then, are these: Am I being ALL things to ALL people so that some might be saved? Am I willing to doing anything for the sake of Jesus Christ's call on my life?
There are too many days in my life where the honest answer to those questions is embarrassing.
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