Today's reading:  What makes you better than anyone else?  What do you have that God hasn't given to you?  And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?  Whatever I am, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me-and not without results.  In His goodness He chose to make us His own children by giving us His true word.  Receiving God's promise is not up to us.  We can't get it by choosing it or working hard for it.  God will show mercy to anyone He chooses?  Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God?  No.  God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus.  For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself......"The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done."  Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins.  You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air.  He is the spirit at work in hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature.  We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.  Now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God.  You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.  Don't let your loyalty to church leaders cause strife, slander, or broken relationships.  Make sure that your deepest loyalities are to Christ and not to His human agents.  Those who spend more time in debating church leadership than in declaring Christ's message don't have the mind of Christ.   LAB note for Corinthians 4:6-7.