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Thankful I Didn't

             I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, (I Corinthians 1:14)

Does this passage strike you as odd? Paul was thankful that he hadn’t baptized people? Isn’t that the height of service and love to God and to fellow believers, to baptize them? There’s a specific reason that, in hindsight, Paul was right to be thankful he didn’t baptize them, but I suspect at the time that he chose not to baptize them, his reasons weren’t to prevent precisely what would have happened – the division among the people according to pastoral preferences.

But just the idea of being thankful that we didn’t do something that seems to be precisely what we should want to do most sounds strange and somehow unchristian. Certainly, other people must struggle with this, too. Some people are phenomenal evangelists, preachers, encouragers, carers, and givers. Ministries are set up that I know to be good ministries. How can I not exercise my gifts? How can I not be involved in each of them to the fullest extent?

I don’t need anyone to make me feel guilty. In fact, if someone tried, I’d probably feel less guilty as I defended myself. No, I generate enough guilt on my own. What sort of person am I that I don’t want – or need – to involve myself in any or all of these ministries that I know to be good? How can I be content to be so useless to the Kingdom?

Paul’s being thankful that he didn’t perform the small but significant service for the Corinthians is a breath of fresh air. We can thank God that we didn’t do some good thing. We can also be thankful that we did do some good things. And the keys to which way we should be thankful involve love of God (obedience,) love of the other (doing what’s actually best for them), and wisdom. It shouldn’t have mattered who baptized the Corinthians. Baptism is between God and the one being baptized. The one doing the baptizing is just a tool. Paul was sent to evangelize and teach. Like the leaders at the church in Jerusalem who designated deacons to serve the people, Paul seems to have designated others to baptize.

The story of Peter on the roof refusing to eat unclean food and of Jonah trying to run away from God’s command show us that God does correct us when our not wanting to do something (or our not doing it) is wrong. There’s no hint that God told Paul to baptize. While Paul had good reason when he wrote to the Corinthians to be thankful that he hadn’t baptized many people in Corinth, I suspect he may have had good reason to be thankful that others did that while he was there. Paul could have easily ended up like Moses, doing everything, if he hadn’t delegated.

We need to be careful about being thankful to have escaped doing something. At the very least, we should make sure that our decision is not an act of disobedience. We should also make sure that our choice is made from a good attitude, and not from laziness, disobedience, or hatred.

But I return to the strangeness of the statement. We can be thankful for not doing something, even if that something isn’t evil. How freeing it is to think that we don’t have to go through life with regret that we didn’t do everything! And perhaps that’s one of the questions we need to ask ourselves as we consider what to do. Will I thank God that I didn’t do it, or will I regret that I didn’t do it? 

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