I Corinthians 4: Fools for Christ

In I Corinthians 4, Paul interacts directly with the Corinthians, examining their situation and his own.  For their part, he says, they are like his children and should acknowledge that they have received everything they have from others.  As far as Paul and the other apostles, however, he considers their state to be hard-pressed.  They have suffered being esteemed as fools in the sight of the wisdom of the world, they have endured hunger and thirst and poverty and brutal treatment, and they are regarded as the "scum of the earth."  Paul has not said these things to shame the Corinthians, but to challenge them - to leave the easy path and do the hard things for Christ.  Paul encourages them to act in the knowledge that he will be coming to visit them...very soon.