1 Corinthians 1:22-25

²²Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Marathon

Who among us competed in marathon? During marathon, there’re vehicles in the lead that runners may follow. At one particular marathon, one runner was few meters ahead of the next runners. But few meters away before the finish line, the lead vehicle turned right to pave way for the runners to reach the finish line.

Sadly, the leading runner followed the lead vehicle and turned to the right also, instead of going straight to the finish line; she ended up third after two runners went straight to the finish as champion and first-runner up respectively.

The champion was interviewed about those final meters incident. “She was in the front, and she was leading, but she took that last turn,” the champion said. “At first I thought they didn’t really show us that well yesterday where the Finish Line was. But I really planned to stick with her at the Finish Line. But after the car turned right, I saw the Finish sign in front of me, so I pushed ahead.”

We follow leaders somehow, may it be pursuit of career or practice of faith.

Don’t just follow anyone carelessly. Make sure that you recognize the Finish Line.

When we left the Philippines, I don’t know if I’ll ever see again my mission professor. We did not say “Good bye!” We said, “See you at the Finish Line!”

We’ve not reached the Finish Line yet. We’re running the race heavenward.

Let’s reflect on what Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3: 12-14, ¹³One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What do you wish to happen in your life? Did you plan for your career? Do you have plans to attain it? Know your mission purpose and plan for step to take.

God designed mission purposes for our best life. If we follow our mission purposes God designed, we follow our best life he designed for us. Christ followed his mission purpose. God designed for him to be crucified and died for our sins.

1.  Crucified

²²Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

How can we persuade others that the gospel of Christ is true and reliable?

To persuade Jewish people in the first century, there should be miraculous signs.

And to convince the Greek people, there should be wisdom behind presentation.

Probably, the Corinthian church attracted Jewish and Greek attendees.

In our generation, there are genuine believers church attendees as well as and observers. Others attend because their relatives or friends are attending. We pray that curious observers may come to personally believe in Christ eventually.

It is for our favor to make sure we sincerely believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior without any hint of doubt. Pray for stronger faith in God.

Jewish people heard but may have doubted that the crucified Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Let’s reflect on what Jesus Christ had declared in Matthew 22:29. ²⁹You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 

Readers may intellectually understand the literal meaning of the Scripture but to internalize it spiritually, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to apply it practically. Have you uploaded on social media quotations from the Scripture? And if your lifestyle is transformed, your effort is amplified even more.

We proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. He was crucified; he died on the cross as eternal punishment for all our sins. His blood poured out on the cross washed away all our sins and iniquities. That’s glorious mystery. Have you personally internalized it? By faith, we believe it happened mysteriously.

Faith in Christ does not stop after we believe the mystery of the crucifixion of Christ. Faith is not one time practice. Faith should be active and alive not dead.

To practice faith in Christ, if helps to know our mission purposes. Pray for something like: “Lord Jesus, please give me the practical step I should take to accomplish my mission purpose that you designed for me. Help me firmly take such step with enthusiasm and without any hesitation, without any doubt at all.”

It is confusing to decide when there are many opportunities and options at the same time. So pray for firm decision. How can you be sure that a step you take is the will of God? The Holy Spirit gives joyful peace as confirmation.

Vision

Apostle Paul had firmly believed that his mission purpose is to preach the gospel wherever the Holy Spirit led him. Let’s learn from Paul in Acts 16:6-10: ⁶Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. ⁷When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. ⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

When there was no opportunity to preach the gospel or when there was difficulty persuading his listeners, Apostle Paul and his mission team may have interpreted it that God was telling them to move on to the next mission point.

Apostle Paul was very dependent on the Holy Spirit in all his decisions. How about us? There’ll always be doubts, confusions and indecisiveness. Always pray for joyful peace from the Holy Spirit as confirmation of doing the will of God. Joyful peace practically exhibits the fullness of life that Christ had promised us.

We are called to testify of fullness of life and transformed life in Christ.

 2.  Called

²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 

We can personally experience the power of God by the wisdom of God. How? Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, how strong do you believe that? Whenever we pray in his name, we actually seek the power of God in Christ.

Most often, we pray for things we assume as favorable to us, right?

So why is it that God grants a few items and not all of our prayer items? What does God require from us when he called us? What happens when we trust God? How should we practically prove that we really believe and trust God?

The Scripture recorded what God prescribes for us to do and not do. Listen prayerful and attentively. Read the Scripture to know what God has prescribed. Prayerfully seek his Holy Spirit to help you resolve and follow his lead always.

Abraham

Let’s learn from Abraham. Formerly, he’s called Abram, but God changed his name to Abraham. Abram means “Exalted father.” Abraham means “Father of many nations.” The Lord instructed Abram in Genesis 12:1-3, ¹Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

The life story of Abraham practically exemplifies possibilities when we trust God. Imagine: When God called him to leave his country, 75-year old Abram had no children. And God told Abram, “I will make you into a great nation!” Why? Abram might have silently wished for a son of his own. Israel has become a nation that God promised to Abram. And all believers are called children of Abraham.

Let us reflect on what Abraham told the Lord in Genesis 15:2-6, ¹The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” ²But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” ⁴Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

How do you pray? Most often, we pray seriously. Abram could have prayed properly, “Lord, please give me a child!” Right? No! Abram did not hide his desire to have a child; emotionally, he expressed that he had been longing for children.

Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” How does that sound to your interpretation? It sounds like Abram was very emotionally blunt!

Did Abram disrespect God? Abram spoke emotionally, as if he was very close friend to the Lord. Indeed, the Scripture describes Abram as friend of God. Abram had been very obedient to the Lord, and the Lord valued his faithfulness.

Personally, we have unspoken prayers that we do not verbally tell others. The Lord knows it. When we trust and obey him, will God give us even far greater than what we wish for? Together, let’s reflect of what it says in Romans 8:28-30: ²⁸ In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

How can we conform to the image of Jesus Christ? To conform to the image of Christ, we follow his obedience to the Lord, and that is when in all things God works for our good. Obedience to God is practical exhibit of our love for him.

But we are faulty, incoherent as compared to the flawless lifestyle of Christ. Have you compared your lifestyle with other Christians? It’s foolish comparison.

If you want comparison for your lifestyle, compare it with Christ’s lifestyle.

3.  Compared

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Intelligent people may assume that the gospel of Christ is foolish nonsense. They may think that it’s foolish nonsense for a Messiah to die on the cross when he can easily just exert his powerful authority. If intelligent people consider the gospel of Christ as foolish nonsense, indirectly, they’re saying that he is foolish.

The foolishness of God is still wiser than all human wisdom combined.

Except by faith in Christ, we can never understand the mindset of God.

When we believe in Christ, the Lord sent his Holy Spirit into our heart to help us understand God and his will. It says in John 1:18 (AMP), ¹⁸No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].

So how can anyone explain or understand God when nobody has seen him? It’s by faith we believe that Christ is God, and that what he says about God is true. We believe it when Christ said that he came for believers to have abundant life.

Have you lived your life to its fullness just as Christ has promised? How?

It declares in Ephesians 2:10 (AMP), ¹⁰For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].

Do you strongly believe that God had designed the path you should take to live life to its fullness? When you follow the path that God had designed for you, you sense peaceful joy as confirmation, even when you don’t fully understand it.

You may have expectations. Parents have expectation from their children.

Joseph

Joseph the son of Jacob had dreams, and he told his siblings and his father.

When Jacob heard the dream, he may have expected that Joseph will be successful. His expectation crumbled when his other sons reported that Joseph may have been killed by wild animals when in reality, they sold him to slavery.

Approximately 20 years later, they reported different story about Joseph. They told him in Genesis 45:26-28, ²⁶“Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. ²⁷But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

How do you react when you hear another story from what was told before?

Anyway, Joseph may have interpreted his dreams that he will be successful more than his siblings. How? Maybe, he hoped to inherit double more than his siblings.

And, his siblings may have similar interpretation and did not want Joseph to inherit more than them. Why? They have sacrificed day and night while pasturing the flock of their father in the field while Joseph stayed home and just delivered food supply occasionally. So they planned to kill Joseph, but sold him eventually instead.

Likewise, Jacob may have interpreted the dream of Joseph–that Joseph will be successful more than his other children or even more than his achievement. Did Jacob ever imagine that Joseph would become a ruler in Egypt? Probably not!

Yet beyond all their imaginations and interpretations of the dream of Joseph, Joseph became very powerful Prime Minister of the nation of Egypt.

What can you say? Should parents expect much from their children?

Certainly, all of us can have our own personal expectations as Christians.

Being so, will the Lord grant us our personal expectations if we trust and obey him? Will the Lord do something better than what parents expect from their children?

Together, let us reflect on what it declares in Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIRV), ²⁰God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. He does everything by his power that is working in us. ²¹Give him glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Give him glory through all time and forever and ever. Amen.

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