Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 193 True Wisdom - Part 3 (a series in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4) 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 MKJV (26) For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble. (27) But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (28) and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are; (29) so that no flesh should glory in His presence. (30) But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; (31) so that, according as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord." When I was a teenager I was a very "late developer" and was the smallest not just in my class, but in my entire grade at age 15 I weighed just 72lbs (35kg.). One of the nicknames I was called was "Nothing". When some kids locked me in a broom closet and put a bench against the door the cleaner asked "who have you got in there?" and they said "Nothing". That was my name "Nothing" , the other one was "Fog" because my medication caused me to be drowsy. By the time I became a Christian at age 21 I had a king-sized inferiority complex. So the above verses are precious to me because God takes the weak, the foolish and the "nothings" and makes them something - to confound those who see themselves as strong. No flesh can glory in the presence of God. None can say "God chose me because I was so good". Not one of us can say "God chose me because I was so intelligent, so wise, so good-looking, so moral or so noble." God will choose a repentant drug addict over a proud genius. God chose me as a "nothing" with an inferiority complex at a point in my life when I was very low indeed. Then he put me together and made me "something" so that today I am not a self-made man, but a God-made man. God is not bothered by the raw material He has to work with; He can turn stones into bread, and water into wine. We are not "easier for God" if we are good and moral and middle-class. God has taken alcoholics and made them pastors and taken drug addicts and made them evangelists while on the other hand many "fine respectable Christian youth" have never gone anywhere much in the Lord. God is not impressed by valedictorians or swayed by credentials. In truth God chooses people sovereignly, for His own purposes. Have you ever wondered why God chose "so-and so", a person of rather limited ability, and made them a pastor, a politician or a millionaire? Have you ever wondered why some very talented people seem to go nowhere? Did you know that valedictorians from Illinois high schools were followed up in 1981 and that by their mid 20's their life performance was "only average" and many were doing terribly? No-one is born with a monopoly on success or a right to reach the top. God decides, God chooses and it is not anything in us that cause this choice. Afterwards it makes sense. From an early age I was interested in other cultures and read their stories, tales, lifestyles and mythologies avidly. I can see God preparing me to be a missionary from birth. But I do not think God chose me to be a missionary because I read all those books! God did not need my reading! Rather God appointed me to salvation and to be a missionary, in His own sovereign plan. Let him who glories, glory in the Lord! There are those who glory in their house, their car , their doctorate or the latest piece of technology that they own. Others glory in their high position, or the success of their children, while others glory in the success of their nation or football team. But let him who glories glory in the Lord and what Christ has done for him or her. We are saints, saved, redeemed, made holy, we have died with Christ, risen with Christ and ascended into heavenly realms with Christ. We will obtain immortal resurrection bodies because of Christ and all the good we do is done in Him and through Him. If we glory in our car, then our next-door neighbor may buy a bigger better car. If we glory in our wealth, then someone else may become richer, but if we glory in Christ we are safe. Our status is not threatened by this world or by recession, when we glory in God alone, we find the cure for social stress and inferiority. We find there is no greater glory than God and He will never be outdone. We should not even glory in our ministry, church or organization. Yes, we should be grateful for what God has done in us and through us but glorying in a church leads to division between churches and glorying between missions leads to competition between missions. We should glory in Christ who in God is made to us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The wisdom of the Christian is to possess the mind of Christ. The righteousness of the Christian is to possess the righteousness of Christ. The sanctification of the Christian is to be made holy in Christ. And the redemption of the Christian is to be redeemed with the redemption of Christ. These things are given freely to us in Christ but we must appropriate them and live accordingly, practicing them daily. Its no use to say that you have the wisdom of Christ if you do foolish things all the time, its not much good to say you have the righteousness of Christ if you dwell in sin, and so on and so forth. If we ask for that which we have been freely given, then we should believe we have received it - and live it out "as if it was there". As we do so we will discover it was always there - just in an unknown, unrealized way. For instance you might pray for the righteousness of Christ - then go and live righteously, and you will find that the righteousness was there, all along, just waiting to be expressed. It has been part of you since your new birth. Finally these things should make us what were not in the beginning. In the beginning there were "not many mighty, not many noble". But Christians should aim to be mighty and noble - by the power that God provides to do so. We are not to stay weak and despised. We come to the Lord weak, and despised nothings, but He does not leave us there. The Good Samaritan does not leave the man half-dead but heals and strengthens. God can make us mighty and noble and wise, and righteous and holy and redeemed. But it will be His work and His glory not our skill and our glory. God has chosen the despised things and the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are - in other words to outdo them. In the end, the "base things' plus God should outshine the "noble things" without God. That is how He triumphs, by making something out of nothing. Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org Visit the Eternity Daily Bible Study Archives - http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ Study at the Asian Internet Bible Institute- Free online non-formal, in-service, bible and ministry training: http://www.aibi.ph