The spiritually mature do not judge by appearances

9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. 11 To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; 12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.15 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

1 Cor. 4:9-15

The Corinthians had been so impressed by eloquence, position, wealth and status of some pretentious 'super apostles' that they started to look down on Paul because of his poverty, his lack of eloquence and his 'weakness'. Paul here invites them to let go of such a worldly way of thinking and look at Paul's faithfulness in the midst of hardship and toil as an example to follow. After all, his ministry was blessed for they had become his spiritual children as they heard the message of Christ from him.

Its so easy to judge by appearances. We have all been conditioned during our upbringing, in school, in the media to measure success in terms of wealth, position, status, beauty and popularity. Like the Lord Jesus he followed Paul had none of these. As the Corinthians Christians were still immature in their faith they were easily impressed by false apostles who according to worldly standards appeared a lot more blessed and successful in life. However, Paul points out that poverty, hunger, homelessness and so on do not mean that someone is a disqualified servant of God, it simply means that God has decided to exhibit our faithfulness this way just as He exhibited Job's faithfulness in the midst of his hardships. Faithfully following Jesus Christ regardless of the circumstances is all that really matters from a spiritually mature perspective. Therefore Paul says 'be imitators of me'.