27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
The Lord has a way of turning what we think is important on its head. We think wisdom and strength are important. Whether we listen to them is another story! But at least we say we value them. Look at the people we lift up in our society. Athletes and scientists are given greater voice within our culture. Science is for many their god. It explains away their need to live a moral life. Of course science gets twisted to push the immoral, anti-god agenda, but let’s not go there. God chooses what we don’t expect to bring Him glory. He pulls the carpet out from under all of us, so that we all stand on equal footing before Him. You see, He wants all boasting about what we have and what we do to be eliminated. He pops all our balloons of boasting. He removes our high heels. He takes away our padding. Off comes the makeup. Our chrome rides are relegated to the junk heap. Our Certificates of Achievement mean nothing. Everything that might be a cause for boasting, God takes it away. He uses an insignificant carpenter on the backside of nowhere to save the world. He used ordinary people to spread the Gospel. He avoided using the political and religious structures of the day. He did it so that he would get all the glory. It is as if the Lord turned all the spotlights on Himself. The only thing of any value is Him. The movie “Slumdog Millionaire” was a great example of this upside down working. There was much in the movie that was distasteful, but the theme of the lowly winning was awesome. He was the most unlikely character to win, and yet he did. We are the most unlikely candidates for God’s grace, and yet God pours His grace into our lives. What a wonderful Lord!
The Arnold Journey 