To Win Souls, Forgo Personal Gain — Thursday, June 18

"I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
— Philippians 4:12, 13 (NKJV)

There is something about the apostle Paul that I find deeply inspiring and quietly convicting at the same time.

Paul didn’t just preach contentment. He lived it — at great personal cost. When he arrived in Corinth he found himself among sharp traders who believed that gain was godliness and that making money by any means was commendable. He could have claimed financial support from the church there. He had every right to. But he chose not to — because he refused to give anyone reason to say he was preaching the gospel for personal gain.

I am reminded this Thursday that the work of ministry — and of Christian living more broadly — sometimes requires us to lay down things we have every right to hold onto. Not because those things are wrong. But because souls are watching. And the force of our message can be lost when our motives are unclear.

"He would seek to remove all occasion for misrepresentation, that the force of his message might not be lost."

— Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, 348, 349

I have noticed that this principle applies far beyond formal ministry. It applies to how we conduct ourselves at work, in business, in our communities. When people around us see that we do not use our faith as a ladder for personal advancement — that we are willing to forgo gain for the sake of integrity and influence — something powerful happens. Our lives become a testimony that words alone cannot produce.

Today, is there something you are holding onto that may be limiting your witness? A right you are insisting on that is getting in the way of the message you carry? Paul says he learned contentment — it didn’t come naturally. It was shaped by experience, by grace, and by keeping his eyes on something greater than himself.

Christ strengthens us for exactly this. Not just to endure — but to abound, even in surrender.

---

🙏 Closing Prayer

Father, teach me the contentment that Paul knew — not passive resignation, but active trust. Where I am holding onto rights or gains that are limiting my witness, give me the grace to release them. Let my life point to You so clearly that nothing I hold onto can muddy the message. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

— Kay, Abide Daily Ministry
🔗 abidedailyministry.org