For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 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; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (ESV)
If you were looking to start a movement that would change the world, what kind of people would you enlist? You would likely look for people with wisdom, influence, and power. They are the kinds of people who can get things done—the movers and shakers of this world.
But that is not what God did. When Jesus began his work, who did he choose to train, preparing them to establish and champion his church? Fishermen, tax collectors, rebels, people with little standing in the world. And they turned the world upside-down.
Consider your calling. What was your position in life when God called you to Himself? Paul told the Corinthian believers that not many of them were wise, influential, or powerful. At least not by human standards.
I was eighteen, in transition between high school and the Navy. I had little influence in the world, little purpose in life, and no ambition. There was nothing to commend me, I had nothing to offer Him, no reason that God would choose me. But He did.
And He transformed my life, making me new and giving me a purpose in life that had been lacking. And what He did for me, He does for all those who come to Him. Rich or poor, strong or weak, influential or insignificant, it makes no difference.
What He does in us is beyond the ability of any human organization or activity. It is His wisdom, a wisdom that seems foolish to the world, and His power, a power that the world sees as weakness, that does what the world cannot. It transforms the hearts and lives of His people and enables us to serve Him.
I cannot boast about anything I am or have done. I can only boast in what the Lord has done in me and through me. He alone is worthy of praise.
