A book I once read said that we're only as good as the people we surround ourselves with. It suggested that we ought to ″dump″ the weak people weighing us down. This idea appealed to that part of me that wanted to be associated with the powerful winners in society!

The world has a very clear idea of what these people look like-rich, healthy, attractive, successful, and popular. Back in Paul's day, Greeks and Jews also had certain criteria in judging what was powerful (1 Corinthians 1:22). If you wanted to turn the head of a Greek, you had to speak intelligently and with the accepted rhetorical skills of the day. If you wanted to get the attention of a Jew, a powerful miraculous sign would do it. But God doesn't play by our rules!

Firstly, He deliberately chooses to display His saving power in the dying body of a carpenter hanging on a criminal's cross (vv. 18-25), which looks utterly weak and foolish. Crucifixion was Rome's way of shaming those who dared to step out of line; to hang on a cross was disgraceful. The Roman statesman Cicero said: ″The very word 'cross' should be far not only from the person of a Roman citizen, but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears.″¹ For the Jew, it was also a sign that the person was ″under God's curse″ (Deuteronomy 21:23). Yet, Jesus dying on the cross for us is the very way chosen by God to save us and demonstrate His power (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Secondly, God deliberately chooses not the movers and shakers to be His people, but the weak, the lowly, the despised, and even those who are nothing (vv. 26-31). Our God is the ″upside down″ God who loves to choose nobodies and make them somebodies.

The great news of Christianity is that anyone can receive God's redeeming love. But if you think you're a nobody, then you're a prime candidate for God to demonstrate His power. Coming to God with your hands full of your wisdom doesn't impress Him. He gave it to you in the first place, and He can take it away.

God does work in some who are powerful and influential (there were a few in Corinth), but they have to come to Him with empty hands. God uses the nobodies so that no one may boast in themselves, but only in Jesus, ″who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption″ (vv. 29-30).

Lord God, thank You for displaying Your love and power in Jesus on the cross. Thank You also for choosing the weak, including me. I gladly boast in Jesus alone.