LEARNING DAILY

 

1 Corinthians 1;25, 27, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

 

When I read these verses, I can not help but smile. I thought back over the plans I had made and the times I had great ideas to help God promote His kingdom and help His people grow and mature in His Word. I am sure he must have been smiling; no, He was probably having a good laugh. Perhaps you might be able to relate. My plans were always full of good things that honored God. I spent a lot of time in prayer sharing with God what I believed He should bless. I spent much less time asking what God wanted. My plans never seemed to work out and I look back and am so thankful they did not. Something better and greater than my plans always followed.

 

To understand the verses for today, go back and begin reading at verse 18, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God”.  The message of the cross is “basic enough that everyone can understand its essence, yet powerful enough to radically transform a life” (DJSB). Actually, the power of the cross both divides and unifies people. Those who accept the message are separated from those who do not. The cross is the power of God coming from heaven to unite those “being saved” and setting them apart from an unbelieving world.

 

The wisdom of the world excludes God and puts their emphasis on their own abilities and makes their humanity their authority. God calls this foolishness because this “wisdom” has failed to bring them the truth and failed to bring them into a relationship with their Creator. Instead, human philosophies, science, and other so-called human wisdom has caused them to hear and understand the message of the cross. This is not some new idea; God’s Word shows how easily humans have been led away from following God. Too often mankind has desired proof through reason or logic or even some miraculous sign regarding “truth”. So, the message of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, was considered foolishness to those Paul was writing to in Corinth. It remains foolishness to too many today.

 

The “foolishness and weakness of God in “Christ crucified” (v. 23) provided a solution to the sin problem that has baffled and defeated all worldly wisdom and power in human history. Thus God’s weakness is stronger than humanity’s greatest strength (v. 25)” (LSSB). In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (and to us) emphasizes God’s standards and His values are different from what nonbelievers accept. All you have to do is read about the ideas being presented to us today as acceptable. No! That can never be. God has chosen the “weak things” of the world to work through in the world today. The “weak things” are you and me because we choose to glorify God and not glorify ourselves. A popular Christian song says, “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who saved my soul!” God uses the little, weak nobodies to preach the gospel through their words and through their life as they walk on the narrow way to eternal life in His kingdom.   

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.