Devotional Text: 1 Corinthians 3:4-11 (NIV)

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Dear Friends

Starting a business or organization can be very hard, especially when it is being build from the ground. Markets for your products needs to be found, finances must be available etc. People with certain expertise needs to come on board to assist you and finding the right people who shares and relates to your vision is hard to find. These are the growing pains of something new, not only in your personal growing process as you learn new things along your way, but it also help those who became your co-workers to experience a new horizon. To get there however one cannot stand still, since you will be needing different people with different skills at different stages of developing your business or organizations as each person can only become an expert in one specific area.

Our text however shares with us of a quarrel which has developed within the Corinth congregation. A quarrel where people remain stuck with one individual as being the only true apostle. It is in this set up that Paul reminds the people that they are only ordinary people who are working for someone else and therefore they have got different duties and responsibilities in God’s organization. Expecting that one person must do everything puts a lot of strain upon these individuals because they themselves only knows where they can fulfil God’s great purpose and with that Paul teaches the congregations that it is okay not to be able to do everything all at once and therefore it doesn’t matter who is the greatest of the two, because they all fulfil their roles to the best of their abilities. As in business, one can have all the expertise to enable the business to thrive it however is God who allows the business to flourish. Man can only do what is possible and therefore we need to allow God to do the impossible. One can only build on the foundation which has been build and if that foundation isn’t strong enough the rest of the building will soon tumble down.

In our faith it is just as true as it is in the secular world. People come into our lives and help us to build on the foundation that was laid by Christ Jesus. This they do through encouraging the down-cast and being a pillar of support when the seas get rough or just being a harbour (place of refuge) where one can wait until the storm has before one continues with one’s journey. Without these people in our lives our boat would have already sunk, way before we have ever started to embark with our life’s mission.

Paul’s responsibility thus was to found a new congregation and now that he has moved on, Apollos had the responsibility to nurture and cultivate that congregation using the gifts and God gave him for that purpose. Having Apollos in that congregation enables Paul thus to continue with the passion that God laid upon His heart without worrying about the congregation he founded, knowing that God would send him the right individual to take this congregation into the direction and the purpose that he has for them. Apollos on the other hand knows that even though Paul isn’t with him anymore there will always be someone who will assist him when he needs assistance along the way, knowing that Paul trust him enough to inform him when things becomes overwhelming for him.

God enables growth only and therefore, when something works out for our best, we need to realise it is all because He has looked upon us with favour and therefore all glory belongs to Him for sending us the right people at the right time. So let us not claim the one person being more important than the other, rather let us give God the glory for everything that has happened for it did not happen without God’s prior consent.

Father God

Thank you that we do not need to be able to do everything ourselves, but that you send people along our way with the same passion, but with different inclinations than ours. Thank you for enabling growth in all the things that we are doing for you. Help us to give glory to you and to realise that our success in actual is your success and that we are only blessed by being a part of that.

In Jesus’ Name, we pray

Amen