All Things are Yours
W. Birch. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;… You remember the fable of the beautiful fairy who always appeared to turn evil into good, and you have sometimes wished it true. Paul believed that Jesus had power to make everything that happened turn out for the best welfare of His people. The apostle seems to say, "If you serve God, everything in the world shall minister to you as much as if it were really your own." God did not make you for the earth; He made the earth for you. As a father values his children more than the house he has built for them, so the Lord values you more than the world in which you live. Do not think you are of secondary importance, created only as an offshoot of the earth, to grind away at your labour and care and pain for a number of years, and then die. No; the apostle believed that God made everything for us, and that as workmen are employed to construct a beautiful palace, so God employs the earth and life and death, and all things as workers and materials to build us. What more comforting doctrine can you imagine? Every tribulation, and all our worries, crosses, and losses are as workmen governed by the Lord for the good of His people. (W. Birch.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; WEB: Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,