Daily Devotional • December 1
Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle
A Reading from 1 Corinthians 4:1-16
1 Think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.
6 I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us what “Not beyond what is written” means, so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive?
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! If only you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to humans. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are sensible people in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. 11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are naked and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.
14 I am not writing this to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel. 16 I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.
Meditation
Today is the feast day of Saint Andrew, a fisherman, Simon Peter’s brother, and most importantly, an apostle. Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 notes that “Andrew and the other disciple went with Jesus and stayed with him, and Andrew’s first act afterward was to find his brother and bring him to Jesus. We might call Andrew the first missionary in the company of disciples.” Andrew’s response to knowing Christ—to immediately share Christ’s goodness with others—should inspire us in our own evangelism and ministry.
In the epistle reading assigned for the Feast of Saint Andrew, Paul writes about the ministry of the apostles, and encourages the Corinthian church to humble themselves as the apostles have humbled themselves: as “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” For indeed, anyone who wishes to steward the mysteries of God must be willing to be, in every way, a servant of Christ. Paul challenges the Corinthians, asking them, “What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?”
Who was the Saint Andrew in your life, who shared the gospel with you, testifying to Christ’s goodness in their life, and inspiring you to seek him? What gifts have we received from those who have come before us in the faith? And as we seek to share the gospel with others, do our own lives reflect the fruit of our faith? Let us be humble and missional, seeking to share the gifts we have received.
Zoe Cordes Selbin is a Th.D. student in liturgical studies at Duke. She is interested in liturgy and childbirth, and is an avid needlepointer and enthusiastic baker.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida
This ministry of The Living Church Foundation is made possible in part by a special bequest from the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer.
