Our culture’s tendency to treat work as a competition, with title, paycheck and office location as the scoreboard, often makes work a tiresome burden. If we buy into that view, Paul’s counsel to his converts to “be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others” sounds hopelessly naïve. But Paul knew (we’ll study this next week) that each of us is uniquely gifted, and called to be who we are made to be (not a clone of anyone else). If we grasp and accept that truth, the pointlessness of comparison begins to appear, and God frees us to “work for the good of all,” rather than trying to elbow our way ahead of one another.

• Paul expressed his concern forcefully: “Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness” (verse 8). The word “only” is significant—he was not saying it was wrong to benefit from your own work. As you review whatever kinds of work (paid or unpaid) you currently do, is there any of it you would have to say honestly is only for your own benefit? Are there some types of work you do that you could accurately describe as “working for the good of all”? How can you continue to grow in your ability to make working for the good of all your primary motivator?