Have you ever turned upside down so you could see the world from a different perspective? If you stand on your head everything looks kind of odd. People are walking in the air. Your hair falls down in your face. Things are backwards to your eye and it’s sometimes hard to figure out exactly what is going on.
That’s the image we need as we look at today’s bible verse – upside down. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
Look all over the Bible and you’ll see it. This should not be seen as an unexpected plan of God, yet we seem surprised every time we run across it. David is the youngest son and he is able to take care of Goliath with one whip of the slingshot. None of the disciples were college graduates, yet Jesus chose them to be his disciples.
God’s plan almost always involves using things in ways we would not normally expect. Even the extended Christmas story shows us this and we often miss it. Shortly after Jesus is born Mary and Joseph present him in the temple. When they do they have to offer a sacrifice. There are two different options for the sacrifice. You were to bring the offering of a lamb for sacrifice in this ritual, but they couldn’t afford that. So God made an option for those who were less well off, a pair of turtle doves or a pair of pigeons.
You see God would bring the greatest demonstration of riches into the world and drop it in the lives of a poverty stricken couple. Mary and Joseph didn’t have a lot of extra. Yet God showed them his amazing grace and love and flipped the script for them. He didn’t require them to have everything together before he chose them. And he doesn’t do that for us either. Instead he chooses those of us who are less than kind of people in the world. He chooses the weak, poor, and outsiders and comes right to where they are.
The story of Christmas is the story of God welcoming those who no one else would welcome and making them part of the family…just like He did with you and me.
Well said. And aren’t we glad that He chose to bless us even with all our warts, freckles and wrinkles? We can be so unfaithful at times, but He remains faithful.