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Editor's Note

About the author:  Mike and his family, originally from Cincinnati, lived in Charleston, SC for 6 years prior to moving to Zionsville in August 2017. He is active in the Worship Ministry at ZPC and leads the Customer Success and Adoption Team at Springbuk, a healthcare intelligence software company based in Indianapolis. His wife, Becky, is the Worship Coordinator at ZPC, and they are blessed with three spirited (like, REALLY spirited) children:  Emma Kate (10), Jonah (8), and Jacob (7).  

About this post: This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals for Holy Week. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text zpc devo to 39970. We welcome your comments and questions each day.

Today's scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

My family and I moved to Zionsville about a year and a half ago. Still, when I meet people the conversation inevitably steers toward where we lived before. When I answer that we moved to Zionsville, Indiana from Charleston, South Carolina… well, you can imagine the responses.

Once the laughter dies down a bit, the next question is always, “Oh! Did your job move you here?” as if it is incomprehensible that anyone in his right mind would trade year-round sunshine, beaches, and world-class shrimp and grits for bitter winters, and pot-holes that may as well double as swimming pools in the summer. Actually, that does completely defy logic. 

In today’s scripture, Paul is writing to budding Christians in Corinth, Greece–you know, the very same Greeks whose culture is synonymous with philosophy, intellectual debate, and the pursuit of knowledge. While classically educated himself, Paul, with his renewed mind (Romans 12: 2), was cautioning these new brothers and sisters in Christ to consider that the “wisdom” of man is easily upended by the “foolishness” of God. An immortal, infallible, omnipotent deity submitting to the constraints of human flesh, as a baby, in poverty, arriving in scandalous circumstances, abandoning his trade as a carpenter to become an itinerant preacher before being a convicted and executed as a state felon? But he never sinned? And he came back to life? What’s foolish about that? Everything!

God’s methods are beyond our comprehension (Romans 11:33). And God’s “foolishness” wasn’t a one-time event limited to the life and saving work of Jesus. The bible is full of accounts of God’s work in which his methods and actions defied human wisdom. Furthermore, Paul used the present tense here, reminding us that God’s hand in our daily lives may seem confusing, illogical, and counter to our own “wisdom.” 

How often do you question God’s wisdom as foolishness – directly or indirectly? “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Lord?” Or how often do you make prayerful requests only to see God reply with a “No” or something radically different than what you had in mind? Too often our own “wisdom” is out of sync with God’s will and his plan, therefore his actions seem like foolishness to us. Our own wisdom is short-sighted, misguided, and motivated by our own plans and desires. God’s “foolishness” is simply him accomplishing his plan, and power for all those who believe and seek God’s will. Paul’s encouragement to the Romans to be transformed by the renewing of their minds comes with a goal: That they (and we) might test and discern the will of God and all that is good, and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).

No, my job was not a factor in our relocation. God brought us here according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Becky, Emma Kate, Jonah, Jacob, and I are blessed and joyful to call Zionsville home. We LOVE it here. Knowing we are firmly where God’s “foolishness” wants us gives us great comfort – and power to accomplish the work he has planned for us.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for loving me and calling me according to Your purpose. Align my desires with Your will that I may move according to Your wisdom, not my own. As I read your word and seek You, reveal to me the foolishness of my own reasoning and the wisdom of Your way.  Amen.

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