Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 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. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Sometimes it's easy to believe that God called us because we have a special gift or a talent. The thing is … God calls us in spite of what we believe to be our gifts and talents.
The church in Corinth was a mess. They were splitting apart and Paul has only begun to discuss their failings. There weren't very many wise or powerful people among them and that was exactly Paul's point.
The call that God places on our lives has absolutely nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with God. It is God who initiates salvation and it is God who puts us to work. Everything that we do on our own is foolishness and when we choose to work without being in God's will, we can never have any confidence that plans will succeed.
God chose the foolish and the weak, the low and despised so that no one could boast in themselves. It is so easy for us to desire to see ourselves as important in the kingdom of God, when in reality, He wants us to become nothing so that the only one who receives praise is God.
It is because of God that we have salvation … righteousness, sanctification and redemption. We have received that through Jesus Christ, not because of anything that we have done or because of how talented or gifted we are.
God chooses the foolish, the weak, the low and despised. That's hard for us to understand and even harder for us to accept. When we boast, we can only boast in the Lord.
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