FOOLS MADE WISE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we read the word of God make it clear that true wisdom doesn’t come from within ourselves or anywhere else in the world. Rather, it comes from surrendering our own way of thinking, speaking, and behaving and exchanging it for what the Lord expects. In other words, we allow His thoughts to be our thoughts, His words to be our words, and His will to be ours in regard to the things we do as we allow Him to dictate our actions.

In sum, to lean on one’s own understanding and wisdom or seek understanding and wisdom from worldly sources is an exercise in foolishness for the only way to wisdom is through the Lord who grants it to anyone who turns to Him for it.

This process of making fools wise through their submission to the Lord is central to Paul’s message to the Corinthian Christians as we finish up the first chapter of his first letter to them. Look again at his words here:

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. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”  1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Here we find that the Lord doesn’t target only the elite to join in company with Him. This is because the elite see themselves as just that, elite, and therefore distinguished in power and majesty over others who they see as subordinate. People adopt this elitist attitude in regard to their status, their riches, and their wisdom and intellect. They don’t see themselves in need of anything from anybody because they have been the one who has caused their great success to happen. All you need to do is ask them because those who see themselves as privileged and superior to others will tell you. They love to boast about themselves, about everything they have achieved and about everything they have. There is no acknowledgement of the Lord at all.

So how does the Lord handle such narcissistic, arrogant behavior?

The scriptures tell us.

For He takes the foolish things of the world and shames the wise. He uses the weak things to shame the strong. And He chooses the lowly and despised things of the world, the things considered worthless, and he nullifies the things that are.

In the context of what God is getting at here, He isn’t interested in those who are prideful or self centered or famous, those who want the focus to be on themselves. Rather, our Lord looks for the humble, those who see themselves as sinful and in need of salvation. He wants people who realize that they only become rich in Christ when they become poor unto themselves and the world. He desires those who see they are incapable of having any righteousness or holiness without turning to the God who brings them redemption and salvation through His Son Jesus, the One who became “for us” the “wisdom of God”.

In other words, our hope now and forever doesn’t come from anything we do ourselves. Rather, it only comes through our God and His Son who that we don’t boast in anyone else except them.

When we see this and act accordingly, laying ourselves down for the Savior who gave up everything to save us, we see us moving from foolishness to being counted among the spiritually wise, smart enough to make ourselves second so our Lord can be first in everything.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com