Rights For Payment

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are my seal of apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me in this: Don't we have the right to eat and drink? Don't we have the right to be accompanied by a Christian wife like the other apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas? Or do Barnabas and I alone have no right to refrain from working? Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock? Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn't the law also say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.' Is God really concerned with oxen? Or isn't He really saying it for us? Yes, it is written for us, because he who plow ought to plow in hope of sharing the crop. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don't we even more? However, we have not made use of this right, instead we have endured everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ. 1Cor 9:1-12
 
How ashamed Paul is? He sowed his life into the Corinthians, he took nothing and now he is being compared and abused. The Corinthians have their life in Christ because of Paul and Barnabas, but they fail to see this. For when another comes along demanding support, they think this person is above the one who began a good work in them.
 
The Corinthians are portraying a trait I see often with parents and children, either in the natural or the spiritual. What blinds those we sow our life into, pour our lives out for? Perhaps we have spoiled them in our desire for them to grow and overcome? Paul took all the hardship and gave all the blessing and yet is being cast aside as worthless. How this must have hurt.
 
Men and women who sow their lives into the gospel message should be rewarded for their service. They should be fed and clothed and cared for. However, although the men and women they serve don't always see it that way, God does. The principle of not muzzling an ox is his.
 
Lord open the eyes of the blind! Amen!

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