‘We Do Not Preach Ourselves’

‘We Do Not Preach Ourselves’

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.

II Corinthians 4:5

We all have opinions. We believe that our opinions are correct. None of us ever approaches a subject thinking, ‘well, that’s the wrong opinion, I think I will take that view of it.’ We believe what we believe based upon our apprehension of the facts, coupled with our ability to reason and arrive at a correct conclusion. Therefore we cling tenaciously to our cherished opinions. Where this becomes an issue is when we, as communicators of God’s truth, begin to incorporate our opinions into what we communicate as ‘truth.’ In the text which lies before us, the Apostle Paul makes this distinction. He says, ‘For we do not preach ourselves.’ In the next breath, he will go on to say, ‘but Christ Jesus the Lord.’ Here is where the points we have discussed thus far become practical. In order to communicate the Message of Christ to those who are around us, we need to look carefully at what is God’s Truth, versus what is simply our opinion. Paul could definitively say, ‘we do not preach ourselves.’ Here is the position of true humility as we approach the communication of the Message of Christ. It is the same spirit which John the Baptist reflected when he said, ‘He must increase, and I must decrease.’ Let us today separate our own opinions from the Message of Christ.

Our Gracious and Wise God,
we praise You that You enable us to discern between Your truth and our own opinions.
We pray that evermore You will continue to deliver us from them,
that we may stand and proclaim Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning