1 Corinthians 1:21-31 Foolish or Wise?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 21, 2020 1 Corinthians 1:21-31
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
(Understanding the Text) I need to remember that this all started with the idea of arguing over which brand of Christian the Corinthians belonged to. They were arguing with their worldly logic. Paul tells them that the world’s ideas and logic don’t match God’s wisdom. The world could have known God through their intelligence if that intelligence were not corrupted by sinful natures. Since the world didn’t know God through wisdom, God chose to save us through something that was totally counterintuitive to worldly wisdom: the cross. Paul gives two examples of worldly wisdom. Jews demand signs. They want evidence before they believe. Greeks demand wisdom. They want a logical argument that will lead them to believe. These same two arguments are in our thinking today. Is it logical? Do we have any evidence? The problem with logic is that it depends on your background experience. With limited experience, anything can seem logical and something true can seem illogical. Living isolated on this sinful world, we have only experienced brokenness. Thus, something unbroken, something sinless, is illogical to us. The ways of the kingdom of heaven are not logical, but they are true. As far as evidence goes, people tend to only accept evidence which reinforces their expectations. They overlook evidence that contradicts their pet theories.
The Messiah on the cross was not a sign that the Jews could accept. It went against everything they had believed and their whole background. It was the final evidence against a Messiah, yet it was the very evidence that Paul gave for the Messiah. A Messiah on a cross was a failed messiah in the logic of the Gentiles. It made no sense to speak of a dead deliverer, even if that deliverer rose again from the dead. The cross as a solution for humankind’s problems does not make logical sense, yet it is the perfect solution. For those who listen to the Spirit’s calling, the cross is the power to transform their lives.
(Revelation of God) God does not think like humans think, even if we were not fallen, but especially because we are fallen. The cross of Christ was God’s power. We saw weakness, but God demonstrated how He uses His power on the cross. Through becoming weak, God overcame His enemy. The cross of Christ would seem to be illogical, yet it won the war that started even before the creation of our world. Being foolish and weak by human standards was much wiser and more powerful than the people of that time could imagine.
Paul shows another example of how God’s thinking and acting is different from the world’s. God chooses the weak and foolish who listen to His calling to demonstrate His power. We look at God’s choosing and think that God cannot be serious, but God knows what He is doing. He will demonstrate His power to transform us through the most unlikely converts. I look at some of the people that God calls and I judge them as not being very intelligent or socially talented or admirable. I think of them as ignorant, socially inept, and limited. God sees His children that He loves and that He can use.
(Application / Prayer) I need to look through God’s eyes. God can take nothing and make something. I need to trust Him to transform and use the weak, stupid, limited humans that He has decided to use. I pray to respect Your choices and work with them. In the end, You will succeed Your way, not my way. I pray to respect that.