"I seek not yours, but you," he wrote the
Corinthians. It was not their money, but their souls he wanted.
But such faithful love will be able to command all men have to
give. Why, to some of his converts he wrote: "I bear you record,
that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own
eyes, and have given them to me" (Gal. iv. 15). But he sought not
to please them with flattering words, only to save them.
So faithful was he in this matter, and so conscious of his
integrity, that he called God Himself into the witness-box. "God
is witness," says he.
Blessed is the man who can call on God to witness for him; and
that man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells in fullness can do this.
Can you, my brother?
5. He was _not vain-glorious, nor dictatorial, nor oppressive_.
Some men care nothing for money, but they care mightily for power
and place and the glory that men give. But Paul was free from
this spiritual itching. Listen to him: "Nor of men sought we
glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been
burdensome" (or "used authority") "as the Apostles of Christ."
Said Solomon, "For men to seek their own glory is not glory," it
is only vain-glory. "How can ye believe, which receive honour one
of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?"
asked Jesus.
From all this Paul was free, and so is every man who is full of
the Holy Ghost.
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