John
6, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
There are times in our lives where, after having walked
with the Lord for a while, we still must strive to exhibit His nature within
us. We thought we had gone beyond that, but we find that there is still a
struggle within us that we must bury if we are to be true followers of Christ.
Many of the followers of Jesus came to this point, like in John 6 for example. Some
turned away after walking with Him for a while and Jesus asked Peter if he,
too, would turn away. Peter’s reply showed that he had already given more to
Christ than he had kept for himself of his old life. He answered, “To whom
shall we go” (John 6:68)? Each of us will come to this point several times in
our walk with Jesus. We think we have died to ourselves so that we can live
totally in Christ but then find we are tempted to do something the old way
because it seems there is nothing wrong with that way. What is wrong with that
way, it turns out, is that it is not God’s way. Paul reminds the people he is
teaching that God does not use the wisdom, might, power, or learning of
humankind to lead all of God’s created people. God uses the foolish things, the
unlearned, and the weak to show His own way, to show He is powerful enough and
wise enough to “best” the leaders of the day when they argue their stance. Even
the foolish and weak in the world can be used by God to be greater than the
wise and strong, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. When we come up to the
point where the method used in the natural world would work as well as God’s
method has in the past, that is where we must stop, check our own desire to leap
headlong into the task, and ask God how He wants us to walk, work, and love.
Nothing can be about ourselves, but God can use our weakness to show His
strength, to confound the wise, learned, strong, and noble of the world. We
have a choice, the best way, God’s way, or a good way, the common way.
