Do you really have everything you need? Are you already rich? Have you become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we could be kings together with you. For it seems to me that God has given the very last place to us apostles, like men condemned to die in public as a spectacle for the whole world of angels and of mankind. For Christ's sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honored! To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place; we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are insulted, we answer back with kind words. We are no more than this world's garbage; we are the scum of the earth to this very moment!

1 Corinthians 4:8-13

Others opinions of you may hurt you. Those opinions may cause you to lose confidence in yourself. But if you have placed your trust in Jesus as your Savior and LORD, and you are trying to do what is right, don't despair. God, who provided for your salvation and has accepted you as His child, sees you and approves of you. And that is what matters most.

If you convinced that God is for you,

it doesn't matter who is against you.

Our Daily Bread - July 13, 2002