Lets look back to 1st Corinthians 3:4-9a. The believers were immature and were following men based on their abilities and talents rather than realizing that everything that was being accomplished by them was because of the Lord and not of themselves.
"For whenever someone says, 'I'm with Paul, ' and another, 'I'm with Apollos, ' are you not [typical] men? So, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth...For we are God's co-workers."
Paul then goes on in 1st Corinthians 4 to remind the readers that we have a message to give and we must be careful as "managers" to be faithful to the message. Not surprising that he immediately goes on in verse 6 to say that Paul and Apollos were careful that the message they gave was 'Nothing more than what is written'...because..."The purpose is that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over another. For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn't boast as if you hadn't received it?"
Again the believers were following people or "in favor" of people based on what they had or could do. Paul stresses this and is very sensitive to this because he knows that it is in our very nature to envy and desire what we do not possess. So in 2 Corinthians 12:5 Paul stresses, "I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses. For if I want to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations." ...spare you... from what? How about from falling into the same trap that the church of Corinth was falling into by seeing the success of men as the "success of men" and not as solely being used by God for His glory alone.
Paul was not ignorant to the other issue and that is of self pride. "For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn't boast as if you hadn't received it" (1 Corinthians 1:9). He goes on in 2nd Corinthians 12:7b, "THEREFORE, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
I must ask myself, "Am I being faithful to the message or am I overshadowing it with my own self-inflation and pride? Do those who see me in my strength see the strength as given by the Lord for the Lord's glory? Or do they see only me? If so I am not being faithful to the gospel of Christ." On the flip-side, "Am I immature? Do I see the strengths that men/women have and put them on a pedestal? Do I follow them without so much as seeing from whom and for whom the talents and gifts that they possess were given?"
"Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more" (Luke 12:48).
We all have strengths that the Lord has chosen to give us but with those strengths come great responsibility to message of Christ. May we humble ourselves in the fear and admonition of the Lord, giving him all the glory and honor by using our strengths for Him and Him alone!
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