“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

This is such an interesting set of verses we get from the Apostle Paul. Although the wording may come across a bit strange; sounding like he morphs into the crowd. What he is really saying is that he has met each different person, or group, exactly where they are. To convince the Jews that Jesus is who He said He was, Paul needed to approach the conversation as a Jew. For the gentiles, Paul had to put his deep Jewish heritage aside in order to communicate how Jesus has also saved non-Jews outside of the Law. Even when considering the week and poor, Paul did his best to make himself relatable to the people he was ministering. Now certainly we can take this idea too far and become compromised by the same sin we are trying to remove from others. But Paul is stating that empathy and forming relationships will make all the difference when making that compelling argument for Christ Jesus. Today I pray that we too can find the same passion to do all things, by all possible means, to bring Christ Jesus into someone else’s heart. Doing it “all this for the sake of the gospel.”