The Decision of Nothingness

1 Corinthians 2
Paul’s Message of Wisdom
1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters,[f] I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.[g] 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. [NLT]

This entire passage of scripture (including the previous chapter on The Wisdom Of God) was always odd to me. When I first came to know the Lord, I had the idea in my mind that I was not small, I was not despised, foolish, weak. But, of course, God in His kindness, did not leave me wallowing in my ignorance. Over the years I've begun to realize what he meant.

Being in Penang, among people not my own, I used to get irked when people I meet find out I'm a Filipino. Having little or no foreknowledge of my country or race, they prejudge me according to their worldview. And isn't that what we ALL do? In our limited world, we all tend to judge ourselves larger than we actually are, and others are labeled, stereotyped and pigeonholed based on existing assumptions. To make matters worse, this is also the way we view ourselves in relation to God, his will for our lives and the role we play in his plan.

Paul, the master apostle, church-planter, author of half the New Testament, accomplished all this, not by relying on his Jew-of-Jews status, nor on his Roman citizenship, nor on his mentorship under Gamaliel. He "decided...in weakness—timid and trembling...[to] rely only on the power of the Holy Spirit".

After 25 years of walking this faith walk with the Lord, I may have come out on the other extreme, finding myself timid and weak, ill-fitted to the tasks I feel I am called to. And still this same passage, aimed to shoot down human pride, also comes to comfort and challenge the intimidation. For what is fear? Simply the misappropriation of faith. When we put faith in ourselves and our "foolish and powerless" efforts, we all but disqualify ourselves from the power of God.