Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

God, my Father,
May I love You in all things and above all things.
May I reach the joy which You have prepared for me in
Heaven.
Nothing is good that is against Your Will,
and all that is good comes from Your Hand.
Place in my heart a desire to please You
and fill my mind with thoughts of Your Love,
so that I may grow in Your Wisdom and enjoy Your Peace.

Fitting Into God's Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:21, Paul gives us an interesting insight into how you and I please God.

“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”

God's methods are astounding.  To bring men and women into His family through the foolishness of preaching!  When people hear the gospel preached and believe it, God is pleased.

Now how is the gospel preached?  Through your life and mine.  Every one of us has been entrusted by God with some gift to communicate the gospel.  Perhaps you have been entrusted by God with unusual wealth.  Or maybe a marvelous singing voice, or the ability to communicate, or perhaps the skill to assimilate facts.

Whatever it is, God has put something in each of us that somehow fits into His great master plan of winning this lost world to Jesus Christ.

God has chosen to use these weak, fallible vessels to share the simple gospel message that the world is separated from Him because of sin.  In His mercy, God reached down to the human race when He sent His own Son, Who willingly gave up His life on the cross and died for our sins.  The price was paid.  God's eternal justice was satisfied.  And the Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

That is the message our world so desperately needs to hear today!  God is pleased when you share that "foolishness."  So however God has gifted you, use that gift today to present a living Jesus to our dying world!

Camouflage

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

I’m fascinated by the way animals camouflage themselves in the wild. There is a fish in the Pacific called the Merlet’s Scorpionfish (Neat name for sure!). Scorpionfish blend perfectly into one particular type of coral. You can be staring at this coral and thinking to yourself, “My, oh my, that’s unique and beautiful,” and you would have no idea you were looking at a fish.

There’s an old phrase that my wife loves to use: “It’s hidden in plain sight.” This refers, of course, to something that is apparently obvious but that people still miss. If you know there is a fish in the photograph of the coral, you’re better able to spot it. It’s still tricky, but, eventually, you’ll see it—because you’ve been tipped off that the fish is there.

The apostle Paul is saying in this verse that the same is true with God. No one knows what’s really going on inside God’s mind unless He tips us off and reveals it through His Word and/or His Spirit.  How does He go about doing that? 

What we need has already been given to us: the Spirit.

Everything you need to live your abundant life you already have. He’s already given it to you. It may be “hidden in plain sight,” but you know it’s there. The Holy Spirit is the Teacher who wants to show it to you.