Weather report from heaven: Sunny and bright with an abundance of light, and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture– “ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
Insight: We must learn to apply biblical principles to our daily life if we are to be impactful in our Christian Faith. One thing we must understand is that God can only use those who are willing to be vulnerable, humble, and repentant. We must admit how far we have fallen short, and how much we daily need a Savior. We must surrender our wills and our ways to His stewardship and trust that His plan is always better. This requires dying to ourselves, which can be extremely hard. God will confound our mind in order to get us to examine deep into our hearts, so we can see the depth of our sin. What we see there we may not entirely like. Jeremiah 17:9 sums it up this way: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? When we see ourselves as we truly are, then we can be useful to God, because only the wounded soldiers can truly fight in God’s army.
Today, Let’s consider what it means to be broken, foolish, wounded and weak, and yet still be qualified to serve in God’s army due to our relationship with Jesus Christ. The Gospel is nothing if not a counter-intuitive way to think of the world and the life we are living. Read the passage above from 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 and tell me if that is not the living proof of how God’s Kingdom is diametrically opposed to what this world values. In God’s kingdom, you must be broken and humbled, otherwise why would you need God and how could He use you? You must be aware of your sin and your desperate need for a Savior. “God chose the foolish things to shame the wise.” What does this mean? It means there are people in this world who, being drunk with pride, think they are so smart, they don’t need God. But God can use little children or lowly fishermen or people with debilitating diseases to confound the wise and illustrate the illusion of their wisdom through simple methods. In John 8:7-9 when the “wise” people of their time called for the murder through stoning of the adulterous woman, Jesus said “Let you who are without sin be the first to cast the stone, and one by one they all went away.” I bet they sure didn’t feel wise at that moment.
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” What does this mean? The world is impressed with human strength. God is impressed with those who rely on Him for their strength. In the famous story of David vs. Goliath, Goliath was a monster of a man, feared by all who saw him and a mighty warrior in the Philistine Army, with an impressive record in battle. David was a scrawny little kid with a few stones in his pouch and a slingshot, who was enraged that the Philistine Giant would dare speak againsta nd slander the God of Israel. Goliath was ashamed and appalled that Israel would dare send a scrawny boy against him in battle. David, filled with the strength of God and past experiences of His faithfulness, ran to the battleground and killed Golaith with one shot. The seemingly weak things of the world, a little boy, had slayed the strong things of the world, a giant warrior, because of his faith in God and His unwavering belief that God would deliver him. The same can be true for us, no matter what battles, or Giants, we are facing in our lives.
God “uses the overlooked, the despised, the lowly things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are so no one can boast before him.” Fisherman, despised tax collectors, Roman Centurion’s, stutterer’s, murderer’s, adulterer’s, me and you can all be used by God. God’s only requirement to be a soldier in His army is you must realize that He gets all the glory, because of what he did for us when He sent His Son to earth to die for us on the Cross, when He bore our sins on His back and forgave us of those sins, for all-time and for everyone who would call on His name. Pride must die when it comes in contact with that type of love. Our past is forgiven, it holds no bearing, when we repent and we then say “Thank you Lord Jesus !” I accept you as my Lord & Savior and I can never repay you for what you have done for me. Use me as you see fit, for on my own I can do nothing but sin, but with you all things are possible.
Prayer: Father God, thank you that you use not the perfect, the wise or the strong things of this world but the broken, weak and repentant people of this world, the ones who depend on you alone in order to change the world. We are all broken soldiers, that you make whole in order to accomplish your will and to show your love to a dying and decaying world. We love you in Jesus name. Amen!
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