A New Devotion on Our Prayer Line - Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

1 Corinthians 3:1-15

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

When I young, my parents taught me to always give credit where credit is due. In other words, people of integrity just don’t take credit for the work of others. Instead, they intentionally make sure that praise and appreciation go to those who deserve it. Just like a person should never blame others for their own mistakes, it’s just right not to claim recognition for something done by another. Now that’s what I was taught by my parents. And I really appreciate their lesson, even though I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t always followed it.

And although I didn’t realize it at the time, this is the same message the Apostle Paul offered the Corinthians, a congregation that was breaking into factions over personalities. You see, as they were fighting over which person or group should get the lion’s share of the respect and the thanks for sharing the gospel to them, Paul was clear that it really shouldn’t go to any person. You see, although they’d all played a role in establishing the church in Corinth, it was God who led those people to himself; therefore, it was God who deserved the recognition and praise. And as I consider all those who Christians and churches who seem to view converts as notches on their spiritual belts, maybe we should all take a step back, take a deep breath and humbly give credit where credit is due.