Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NRSV)
The passage for today’s reflection from I Corinthians is jam-packed with truths that are life changing. The truth it contains that has been most impactful to me is what it highlights about God’s plan for human faith. The text pits human wisdom against what it calls the “foolishness” of the message of the cross. It is fascinating to me that it was God’s plan that our belief in our Creator would not be borne out of our own human wisdom and understanding; rather it would instead require a genuine step of faith.
Our challenge as those who have taken the step of faith to believe in the message of the cross is to relinquish control of our lives to God. We too often believe that we have the power to make things happen by the force of our will or efforts. We believe things will not get done “without us.” We believe that we are indispensable. The reality is that God is the one with all the power and wisdom, and we are weak and fragile. When we rely on our own wisdom, we deny the power of God, thinking that we know better. We in effect take on the place of God, and in our pride fail to humbly yield to God his rightful place.
Isaiah 29:16 (NRSV) points out the flaw in this way of thinking and highlights our Lenten theme (“upside down and inside out”), noting: “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay? Shall the thing made say of its maker, “He did not make me,” or the thing formed say of the one who formed it, “He has no understanding?”
When I have fully grasped this truth, that my wisdom, my power and my abilities are not enough to produce lasting peace, I have recognized that humbling myself before God requires a daily admission of my need and of my lack of understanding. When I can I cast my burdens on my Savior, the peace comes rushing in. God can handle it, he is in the business of bearing burdens and his resources are limitless.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I admit my weakness, my lack of wisdom, my lack of understanding, and my need for you each and every day. Fill me with your peace, with your love, with your compassion, with your mercy, and with your grace. Thank you for being a relational God on whom I can cast my burdens daily.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NRSV)
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.