Genesis to Maps - Letters
Daily Scripture Readings
Monday: I Corinthians 13
Tuesday: Romans 8:35-38
Wednesday: Ephesians 2:4-10
Thursday: Galatians 2:13-21
Friday: Philippians 2:1-13
Saturday: Revelation 1:1-3
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, Your word is a lamp for our feet and a light to our path. Help us see scripture in a new light. Give us a passion for studying your Word. Speak to us daily in new ways as we read. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Reading
This ought to be one of the most encouraging passages to any of us who have tried to be a witness as a Christian. Speaking of the things of Christ and the things of God is easy in a church like this where you are gathered with Christian friends because nobody objects. However, when you try to talk about these things with unbelievers, people who are committed to the philosophy of taking care of number one first and who are out to seek for fame or fortune or whatever it may be, you find it very difficult. You feel much personal weakness and fear and trembling. That is the way Paul felt, and that ought to be an encouragement to us.
The reason he felt like this is because what he was saying to them was not in line with what the world wants to hear about itself. It did not massage the ego of man; it did not make him sound like he was incredibly important. Paul deliberately rejected that approach which is wrong because it does not help man. Instead, he began to talk about this judgment of God upon the thinking, the attitudes, and the wisdom of man, and it left him feeling rejected. In a sense that is what Paul was suffering in Corinth. He came, but there was no great ego-pleasing reception for him, there were no dinners, there was no Academy Award given to him.
He tells us how he felt. He felt fearful, weak, and ineffective. He felt his words were not outstanding; he felt he did not impress anybody by the way he came at this.. He did not like those feelings, nevertheless he faithfully began to talk about Jesus Christ.
Soon there was a second visible result. Paul calls it the demonstration of the Spirit's power. As Paul in this great sense of weakness told the facts and the story out of the simple earnestness of his heart, God's spirit began to work and people started coming to Christ. You read the account in Acts. First, the rulers of the synagogue turned to Christ, and then hundreds of the common, ordinary, plain people of Corinth began to become Christians. Soon there was a great spiritual awakening, and before the city of Corinth knew what had happened, a church had been planted in its midst and a ferment was running throughout the city. I believe that this working through our human inadequacy is God's continuous and perennial way of evangelism.
Ray Steadman