Your Significance as a Child of God
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
1 Corinthians 3:9; 4:1–2
People often search for significance, but that can be elusive. What is significant? After much thought, I came to the conclusions that a significant event or person is something or someone who made a lasting impact on my life. I initially thought that the key was on the immediate size of the impact, but now I know that significance is really measured by how long it lasts. What is forgotten in time is of little significance; what is remembered for eternity is of great significance.
I am amazed at what the world calls significant. Major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and World Series, are of great significance in our society. I like sports, but I couldn’t tell you who won the World Series 10 years ago. And furthermore, I don’t care. We try to immortalize such events by keeping records and building monuments, but every name will eventually be replaced in the record books. These are national pastimes that were originally developed for temporary enjoyment, but they have no eternal significance. Do you remember some years back with the World Series featured Oakland and San Francisco? Talk about significant! This was a Bay Series, but how significant was it at 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon when the big earthquake hit?
Not in People
Paul puts it all in perspective in 1 Corinthians 3:1–4:2. Open your Bible to this passage, and let’s walk through Paul’s argument. “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ” (v. 1). They were children of God, but they were not acting like children of God. They weren’t ready for solid meat, so he had to give them milk. Their carnality was evidenced by jealousy and quarreling among them, and the fact that they were just following men. One said, “I follow Paul,” and another said, “I follow Apollos” (v.4). Verse 5 says, “What, after all, s Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.”
Many people today find their identity in following leaders or belonging to certain organizations, instead of finding it in Christ and being a part of the family of God. Paul had planted and Apollos had watered, but God caused the increase (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Not in Self-Effort
Considering what God wants to accomplish through the Church today, how much gets accomplished if man tries to do if all by himself? The answer is “nothing.” And how much gets accomplished if we expect God to do it all? The answer is still “nothing.” God operates through the Church—if no one waters and no one plants, nothing is going to grow. But even when Christians do plant and water, if God isn’t in it, nothing will grow. “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we re God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:8–9).
Also, it was by the grace of God that He laid the foundation, and He warns us to be careful how we build on that foundation. “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). If we build on any other foundation our work will be tested. Someday, there will be a judgement, and the things we have built in total dependance on the Lord our God will be as gold, silver and costly jewels. But the work we have done in the flesh—any attempt to build our own kingdom—will be as wood, hay and straw. “It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward” (1 Corinthians 3:13–14).
I have a little plaque I always keep near my work, which says, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Only what we presently sow in God’s Kingdom will last for eternity.
Not in Our Abilities
Paul then reminds us that we are God’s temple; His spirit dwells within us. We are not to be deceived: “If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise” (1 Corinthians 3:18).
There is always the dangerous tendency to think we can bring about God’s kingdom or accomplish something on our own. But Jesus said in John 15:5, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” But the opposite is also true. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Because I am God’s child, I haven entitlement: “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world of life of death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23). So we are entitled to function as children of God, but we have also been given an entrustment.
Significance Lies in Stewardship
We will sense our significance when we become good stewards of what God has entrusted to us. As 1 Corinthians 4:1–2 says, “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” God has not equally distributed gifts, intelligence, or talents. Therefore, we will be judged only according to our use of what He has entrusted to us. He is a fair and just God. Our significance will not be measured by the greatness of our gifts, talents, or intelligence, but how we have used what God has entrusted to us—because whatever we sow, by faith, in God’s Kingdom will last for eternity.
There are no insignificant children of God. A dear lady once said to me,” All I do is teach third grade boys in Sunday School.”
I said, “What do you mean, ‘that’s all you do?’ You have the privilege of building scriptural principles into those third graders that will affect them for all eternity. You can that insignificant?”
One little seed sown for the Kingdom of God will reap eternal results. Sometimes we struggle because we do not see the lasting effect of our work. That’s why Paul writes in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Dear Heavenly Father, help me to see the reality of life from Your eternal perspective. I confess the times I have sought immediate gratification. I renounce the lie of Satan that there is no eternal consequence to our stewardship. I claim no ownership of what You have entrusted to me, and to You I dedicate my life, family, ministry and all my endowments. I commit myself to be a good steward of what You have entrusted to me, and my search for significance is over. I no longer seek to be wise by the standards of this age or seek the temporal rewards and acclaim of living independent of You. I find my significance in doing Your will, as my Savior modeled for me. I now commit myself to life life dependent upon you and trust You for the eternal dividends that come from a faithful life today. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.
Note: This post is a segment from Dr. Neil T. Anderson’s devotional, Who I Am in Christ.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.