From Nothing, Everything.
Reading: 1Co 1:26-31
Everything that God does He does out of His own character. God always acts based on who He is. The more that we understand the character of God the more we are able to see what is expected of us and how He deals with us. In this passage we are made aware of a characteristic of God that is demonstrated through all of scripture. God chose Israel because they were the least of all nations and He promised to make them greater than all nations. God chose David a young shepherd to become the king from whom would come The Eternal King. God in the flesh was a poor carpenter from an obscure area who gave life to the world. In our reading God identifies the type of people that He chooses. He wants those who are foolish, weak, base (or undesirable), despised, nothing. Out of the foolish He will show such wisdom that the wise will be shamed. Out of the weak He will display such strength that the mighty are shamed. Of the base, the despised and the nothings of the world God will bring everything that is important for His plan. He does all of this to show that He alone is the source of every good thing (Jam 1:17), that no-one has reason for boasting but everyone has reason to come to Him. This passage shows us what it is that God requires of us. It is not that we are strong but must act as if we were weak. Man is a dependent being and by himself is incapable of any true good. We do not need to pretend that these things are so, we need to examine ourselves and see that they are true. To the extent that we do this God is able to do what He always does for the foolish and the nothings. Verse 30 begins with the words “of Him you are in Christ Jesus”. In this we recognize that God has done everything necessary to place us in Christ. Our part is to accept, explore and celebrate with each day what He has done. God’s solution for us is not intellectual, physical or technical. It is relational. The passage is saying that the answer lies in relationship with Christ. As Jesus said in Joh 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. He does not give these things; in relationship He is these things for us. Verse 30 continues: “who became for us wisdom from God- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. In wisdom Jesus makes clear who we are and how true life can be found. In righteousness, sanctification and redemption we are able to experience and to give love as it was meant to be, to feel the joy of living as we were designed to live. As we, in each moment, seek relationship with Him Jesus is each of these things for us.