Weakness and Foolishness: 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

       The idea of weakness and foolishness has been very influential in my own life and has shaped how I view myself and other people. While some of this material can be connected to the "From Favoritism to Flourishing" series last year, I feel like this passage in specific is essential to growing in one's relationship with God and with other people as well. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 says:

26 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. 27 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. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

        God's method of choice from the beginning of time has been to choose the weak and lowly to serve his purposes. A quick survey of the OT will tell you that Abraham, Gideon, and David, among many others, were nobodies in the eyes of the world with nothing to contribute to the world's battles for glory and prestige. Instead, God seems to choose people that will reveal his own providence the most. It is not the most eloquent speakers nor the wisest leaders that find their way into the hallowed halls of biblical history. They were just normal people that God gave the equipment to do their jobs on the way to the destination. We can lose sight of the fact that David was not part of the military before he fought Goliath. He may have been too young to serve in the army, but we do know that killing giants was not his normal line of work.
           What do these stories have for today's readers? What difference does it make if the heroes of the Bible were a gang of nobodies that God happened to pluck out of their bland, boring lives to serve his purposes? It means that we shouldn't evaluate ourselves by the same standard. The same God that made these lives meaningful and impactful upon the lives of others didn't require extraordinary gifts and insights before he made us of them. All he required was an open and obedient heart. The rest was just natural.
           It can be tempting, especially in ministry, to place the burden of the world on your shoulders as you attempt to please God with your devotional life. It can be easy to think that if we don't have our lives together, God will pass us over for the next available candidate. However, God doesn't usually choose the influential to get things done. He uses the weak and foolish. This is why it is a regular prayer of mine that God would teach me how to embrace my weakness and foolishness. I know that if I seek to base my life in my own achievement and character, I won't get very far. Now, obviously, there is nothing wrong with achievement or character and it is hard to make progress without having these, but we need to recognize where the core of our identity and power comes from: God. There is nothing wrong with being somewhere on the journey short of perfection. In fact, this is the only way to take steps forward. We see this in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

          Therefore, in conclusion, let us not wait upon the Lord to make us heroes of the faith before we accept the challenge to take steps of obedience to follow him. We don't have to be confident and eloquent to share our faith with our friends or reach out a hand of love to the social outcast. God looks at the heart first and foremost. Spiritual disciplines and practices provide the fuel to make the calling easier and more powerful, but these are peripheral to the core power source: the relationship that you build with God as you take steps of faith.
Peace of Christ to you,
Simeon