The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 Corinthians 3:21-23, “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you,

22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or

things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”

I will spare you the difficulties I have had over the years with understanding these verses.

Yet, Ellicott’s Commentary opens my understanding. Read the following carefully, slowly.

Let every sentence sink into your mind and heart. Powerful stuff this!

“Be it wisdom, be it light, be it power, be it victory over sin, be it a matter of this world, or of the world to come, all is in Christ. Having Christ, we have all things; bereft of Christ, we have absolutely nothing. All things are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. Well, then, what is the result for me? I am poor, it may be. Yet all the fortunes of this world are mine; for they are Christ’s, who Himself is God’s, and who could easily give them all to me, with Himself, if they would serve my interests. The whole world, with all its glories, with all its power, belongs to me; for it belongs to my Father, who will give it me tomorrow, and could give it me to-day, if that were good for me. I am very ill, it may be. Yet health is mine, strength is mine, comfort is mine, a perfect enjoyment of all the blessings of life is mine; for all this belongs to Christ, who belongs to God, and who disposes of it as He will. If He withholds these things from me to-day, for a fleeting moment, swift as the shuttle in the loom, and for reasons wholly of His own; it is because these pains and this bitterness conceal a benediction worth more to me than the health so precious, than the comfort so delightful.… I challenge you to find a thing of which I cannot say: This is my Father’s; therefore, it is mine; if He withholds it to-day, He will give it me to-morrow. I trust myself to His love. All is mine, if I am His.”

God bless you abundantly –as He wills,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas