Paul urged the believers
to examine their calling in life to help them see where they came from. He was
sure they would discover that not many of them were great or significant people
prior to being grafted by God into His movement. This is proof enough that God does
work in the lives of people. An analysis of the apostles would reveal that they
were mostly untrained, unschooled people from the angle of the world. Yet they
all made it into God’s list of who’s who.
Paul says that “not many
of you were wise or significant.” He
did not say “not any of you.” God has
His reason for not using the many wise or significant. And it’s because they would
be tripped by their own system and unreceptive to God’s ways.
Those used of God are
those who had responded to God’s call. And they are the ones He had chosen to
use in substantial ways. The people God calls into His Kingdom to serve him are
not necessarily the intellect, the influential, the powerful or the noble. For
sure God did not exclude them, but these people themselves had chosen not to
respond to God’s invitation. Therefore it’s not a surprise to discover that God
would use the least expected people to impact the world.
Regarding the usefulness
of people and things, Paul maintained that God evaluates differently. People whom
the world regarded as foolish and weak and things that they regarded as lowly, God
saw otherwise. He demonstrated His wisdom and strength through these people who
are connected to Him. He chose to use the lowly and despised thing to cancel
out the value of the thing they were using for their boasting. In this way no one could boast any longer.
God had effectively
dealt with the whole span of man’s life, past, present and future in the way He did
things. In Christ Jesus, believers’ past are forgiven. He became their
righteousness. Their present is equipped for a new and living way. He made them
holy. Their future is secured – He became their redemption price. Paul then
turned to urge them to boast in the Lord instead who had become their wisdom
from God, their righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
When we look away
from ourselves to Christ, we would begin to see fellow believers not as
competitors but fellow servants of God. We will realize that God uses the
unexpected to do His supernatural work. We are significant not because of who
we are but because of Christ Who dwells in us. Let our boasting be in Him!
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