Passage Read: Romans 16 - 1 Corinthians 1
Meditation Verses: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Thought
Ouch! This is a brutal truth, but a vital one, to help us keep all things in perspective, to help us keep Christ as the center and most valuable thing in our life. It is hard to think about who I really am, that I am a nobody, not the smartest guy in the room, insignificant and unimportant. I am a lowly and despised thing, chosen by God out of His mercy as a rebuke to those who think they are all that! They despise Jesus and His sacrifice because they think they're so wonderful; they look at me and laugh because of course I need to dream up a God who might actually want me! But I didn't dream Him up; He existed entirely apart from me, and created all things, including me who had been so thoroughly corrupted by countless generations of godlessness. I'm too clueless to have ever thought up so great a God! Understanding and accepting that brutal reality leaves me no other option but to glorify Jesus Christ and boast in Him alone.
Application
I have nothing to commend me to God or to any other person. There is nothing special or significant about me. Everyone tells me that I need to have a healthy self-esteem, I need to think highly of myself. But Paul tells me I do better to face the truth and accept that I am nothing. There is nothing good in me; I am in fact a child of the devil, a rightful member of a wicked and adulterous generation. I'm foolish, insignificant, common, weak, lowly and despised--even by my fellow idiots and ingrates! Yet God chose me! When I understand who I really am, the fact that Jesus Christ died to save me becomes infinitely valuable. There is nothing in me or about me that I can boast about; I can only boast in Christ and His Father's love for me, that He would choose to save and claim as His own someone as useless as me! All my gratitude and delight and devotion should be for Him alone; all my praise and honor and glory should be to Him and about Him alone!