Here is 1 Corinthians 3:10-23 paraphrased as a prayer. Make this prayer your own or try paraphrasing this passage for yourself.
?By the grace You have given me, Father, I have ministered in the lives of others?laying the foundation of Jesus Christ and building on that foundation. Please grow my skill in building like You do. I?m so grateful for the honor of building in the lives of men and women over the years. Grant that the materials we use to build in the lives of others are eternal ones?like gold, silver and precious stone. Make me careful as to how I build in my own life and in the lives of others. 11 There is no foundation on which the Christian life can be built other than Jesus. None.
Jesus, I?m so glad that I find my security, my stability and the reference point of my life in You. Everything I am and everything I do flows from You. 12 Enable me to know how to build in my life and into the lives of others using eternal, lasting materials. I don?t want to live according to my own insight or by conventional wisdom?even when that wisdom finds wide agreement among popular Christian speakers and writers. 13 I realize that everything I do will face the test of eternity. This world?s wisdom and its results won?t pass that test. I long for what I am building to survive into eternity. 14 I want to experience the joy of seeing that You were at work in and through me in ways that resulted in fruit that would last. 15 It would be heartbreaking to find that much of what my life has been about has only been temporary and passing.
16 I realize that we are Your temple and that Your Spirit lives in us?in me. The structure that we?re about building is a place of worship first and foremost. It is not first a place of commerce or of busy working. It is a place to honor and acknowledge You and You alone as God. No idols. No false gods. 17 May anyone who seeks to damage or destroy this temple realize they are contending with You. It is a place where You dwell and where You are honored. It is a sacred place. The body of Christ is just such a place.
18 I want to be free of all self-deception, Father. I don?t want to lean on or be measured by the standard of wisdom this world treasures or affirms. It would be better to be considered a fool by the world around me if that meant I was truly wise by a heavenly standard. 19 This world?s wisdom is foolish when seen in the light of Your majestic presence. You make conventional wisdom look puny and meaningless. You always catch us when we try to outsmart You. 20 You know that the thoughts of the know-it-alls are going to end in nothing. 21 May I cease to boast in anyone or anything other than You. I may be tempted to boast that I know this important person, or I?m a part of that person?s group. I may boast about this achievement or that endorsement, but it is meaningless when I realize that in Christ I have a share?an inheritance?in everything that is. 22 If Paul, Apollos or Peter would have belonged to me if I was a first-century Christian, then surely I have access to any believer today, no matter how popular they might be. They are my brothers and fathers in the faith. We are part of the same family. Enable me to realize the truth of who I am?who we are. Thank You that the world and life and the present and future are all mine because I?m Yours. And since Christ is God?s so I am, too. Father, You have been so good to me! Amen.?
