Scripture
My brothers and sisters, think of what sort of people you are whom God has called. Few of you were men of wisdom {made 33 on your your ACT}, by any human standard; few are powerful or highly born.
~I Corinthians 1:26, NEB
Quote
Plunge your failures into God’s grace and He will make you bold and humble at the same time.
~John Newton
I suppose some preachers shy away from the above passage, they may feel personally offended; I don’t. I might remind them that Paul was a Phd. and that does not stand for “Piled high and deep.” God uses brilliant people with keen minds but He more commonly uses those of us who are frowned on by the world. Some call it the Gideon Principle–He uses the weak so that He gets more glory. Gideon’s problem was not pride, it was a lack of faith and confidence. God loves humility, He is attracted to it. In training, Peter was the most confident of the twelve: he was a cocky bird but he had two character blow outs in a row. He rebuked Jesus for talking about His upcoming death and ran when Jesus was arrested and then he denied even knowing Jesus. He was utterly humiliated by his fall but Jesus used that to further his training and he became the most outstanding leader of the group. Who would have thought it? If you have watched he mini-series THE CHOSEN, they have cast Peter as a fighter, brawler, a tough customer and rough around the edges. He was just the kind of man that the world would have ignored.
The New Testament states over and over that we the believer are in Christ. Paul uses this term almost 40 times in Romans alone. We did not get in Christ by our merit, it is a position of grace. We do not accumulate righteousness or earn redemption. Christ is our righteous and our salvation. Since we are in Christ, when the Father looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ and He loves us as if we had earned this righteousness ourselves. Of course, we must remember that we did not earn anything. God embraces and accepts you fully and loves you perfectly for Christ sake. The Father will never devalue the sacrifice His Son has made. You do not have to prove yourself to others. You need no one’s approval except God’s and you have that in Christ. We cannot be proud, conceited and wise in our own eyes because everything we have is GRACE. There is no place for boasting unless you want to brag on Jesus. You will never find the peace and rest you long for in the world, riches, fame, work or erotic love. If Christ is in you, you are rich and you have everything you need.
Another good LORD’s day and we thank Him for His grace. I got to enjoy the only Christmas part of the year for me last night; all the others have been canceled due to covid. Christmas and get together s go together like a horse and carriage. Craig Tyson in on the top of our covid list; so far as I know, everyone else is better. I hope you have a great week.