Wednesday Words of Encouragement
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV) ~
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD."
Do you ever feel weak? Powerless? Useless? Not good enough? I know I feel that way many times in my life. It also seems like those who are strong, powerful, and perfect always seem to get ahead and win. Nothing ever seems to go wrong for them. Yet, those people are also the ones who seem to be arrogant, self-absorbed and do not need God.
There is good news for us. God uses the weak, the foolish, the lowly, and the despised to do great things for Himself. This world says that you can only be somebody if you are talented, beautiful, thin, athletic, and perfect. Yet, the Lord uses those that the world deems worthless. Why does He do this?
So that we can give Him the credit for the good in our lives. It is in our weakness that He can do great things. It is through our inadequacies, that His strength and grace are adequate. It's through our disabilities that God gives us the ability to do anything in His name.
Those of us who recognize our weakness, know that it is the Lord who gives us the strength. We also know how far He has brought us. We realize that He reached down when we were nothing and lifted us up and made us something in Him.
God can work through you. He will allow beauty to come from the ashes of your life. He sees the value in you and uses that to stretch and help you grow. Because of the Lord in my life I know, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!"
That indeed is good news for all of us!
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD."
Do you ever feel weak? Powerless? Useless? Not good enough? I know I feel that way many times in my life. It also seems like those who are strong, powerful, and perfect always seem to get ahead and win. Nothing ever seems to go wrong for them. Yet, those people are also the ones who seem to be arrogant, self-absorbed and do not need God.
There is good news for us. God uses the weak, the foolish, the lowly, and the despised to do great things for Himself. This world says that you can only be somebody if you are talented, beautiful, thin, athletic, and perfect. Yet, the Lord uses those that the world deems worthless. Why does He do this?
So that we can give Him the credit for the good in our lives. It is in our weakness that He can do great things. It is through our inadequacies, that His strength and grace are adequate. It's through our disabilities that God gives us the ability to do anything in His name.
Those of us who recognize our weakness, know that it is the Lord who gives us the strength. We also know how far He has brought us. We realize that He reached down when we were nothing and lifted us up and made us something in Him.
God can work through you. He will allow beauty to come from the ashes of your life. He sees the value in you and uses that to stretch and help you grow. Because of the Lord in my life I know, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!"
That indeed is good news for all of us!
Amen! :) xxx
ReplyDelete