NOTES for Co1 4:7

These priceless words of the apostle immediately make one come to one's senses; they serve as an antidote against self-exaltation and judging other people. If only we would always remember them.

My very existence is a gift, and how much beautiful besides the fact of my being I have. I have a heart, a mind, feelings, will, a body, the love of parents and other people - for nothing, simply because I am I. I have the faithfulness of friends and the love of animals, I have knowledge, a home, things, and much more... I have the sun and the stars, clouds and trees, I have heaven and earth, I have God. Everything I have has been given to me, and all this was created by God for me.

Compared with this, boasting before others, and still more being proud, exalting oneself, and judging, is simply foolish. If one is to boast, then only in God, who gave me everything.

Realizing that everything I have has been received by me not only helps me not to exalt myself, but frees me, because when I appropriate something - whether spiritual qualities or a material thing - I become unfree: what has been appropriated is "clenched in the hand," and thereby I "lose the hand," according to Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. It gives true peace - humility - and becomes a source of gratitude to those through whom I received everything: God and people.