Dig Deeper:
BORING AND IRRELEVANT? There's constant pressure on the Church to produce worship services and experiences that are hip, stimulating and even entertaining. These are not bad things in and of themselves; we should work hard to make sure our worship is well crafted and excellent in every way, but these were not the goals Paul was aiming for. In the opening paragraph he admits to not having eloquence or wise & persuasive words, and that he came to the Corinthians in weakness with great fear & trembling. This isn't the picture of a good looking preacher in designer clothes with a top notch praise band quietly riffing in the background while the preacher tells a humorous anecdote that helps you with your daily stresses. None of those things really matter. What matters, Paul writes, is that your faith rests upon and is weekly fed by God's power (v5) which comes through His Word (1:18).
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME: We often bemoan the fact that our society seems to be becoming more godless and pagan. While it's both true and unfortunate that Biblical values and morals no longer are reflected in society as a whole, we must remember that the root of those values and morals - faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ - has never been popular. In fact, "the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them... (v14)." Society will ebb and flow with people who want the fruit that comes from Godly living, but by and large that's all they want: the fruit, and not the root.
WOULDN'T IT BE AWESOME to hit baseballs as well as Hank Aaron, drain baskets like Michael Jordan or decorate like Joanna Gaines? People of that caliber have two things in common: 1) They were gifted with extraordinary talent; 2) They worked extremely hard to develop that raw talent. It's not very likely that you will excel at professional sports or have your own home decorating empire, but you do have an extraordinary talent. The end of v16 makes one of the most awesome promises of scripture that few people truly appreciate:
We have the mind of Christ.
You've been given the ability to understand things in a way that those outside of Christ will never come close to. Work hard to develop this raw talent that you've been given. You have more resources to do this than anyone else in history. Check our our Lifelong Learning page, or begin to utilize other great resources like Ligonier Connect or the awesome videos at the Bible Project.
Follow the AAA Prayer Pattern:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? (v16 & Isaiah 40:13)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: "Know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (v2)." (meditate on this today and then come to realize the awesome amount of knowledge it takes to fully understand those two concepts)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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