‘Spend and be spent.’ This is Paul’s joy as a spiritual father to the believers in Corinth.
Do we imitate Christ and Paul in this matter? Am I ready to be gladly spent and be spent? Ready to suffer some disadvantage? By faith we see that the disadvantage is only in appearance. All the things that appear to work against us, God has a wonderful way of working for our good. At the same time our faith grows stronger as we deliberately choose what advances his cause over what benefits us in the short term.