A L M A C I A S

THE ONE THAT JUDGES US IS THE LORD

In the first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote to those brethren because it was brought to his attention that they were having certain problems, one of which was that of being followers of men. Paul addressed part of this problem in I Corinthians chapter three but continued to deal with it in chapter four. Paul really wanted the brethren to understand that being followers of men was wrong and that the only One to be followed would be the Lord. It is in this context that the apostle Paul wrote what he did in chapter four. Paul here discussed what was required of those who were ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. He made it clear that it was required that stewards be found to be faithful. Faithfulness has become a rare thing in many places and in many people. But that is what Paul wrote by inspiration that God required in those who had been given the responsibility of taking the Gospel to wherever it was needed.

But there was another lesson that we find in this same context. Paul made reference to how certain judgments were not really that important. Paul told the Corinthians that he considered it a small thing for him to be judged by the Corinthians. He also considered it a small thing to be judged by anyone; he did not even judge himself. When we think about what Paul wrote here, we see that there was a reason why Paul said what he did. We sometimes are so concerned as to what other people are going to say or think that sometimes we do or say things because of the great peer pressure that exists. We always need to remember that in the day of judgment, when the Lord judges us all, he is not going to decide the rightness or wrongness of what we did, based on popular opinion. That is how the world operates; they sometimes go by popular opinion. The Lord goes by what is right or wrong according to the Word of God. Even in this context, Paul himself said that the only One who judged him was the Lord. We know that Paul was not saying that we should never make any kind of judgments, but rather that whenever we do so, we need to remember that the Lord is the One to whom we shall give account. Let us always try to do that which pleases the Lord and not just do things because of peer pressure.