Psalm of Praise: Psalms 103:3-5
The Lord forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.
He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.
He satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Bible Reading:1 Corinthians 1:18-21
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
A Reflection:
I wonder if you have ever done anything that others thought was foolish, but that you thought was a wise choice. Maybe forming or breaking a relationship, maybe taking or leaving a job or moving house. Maybe something else. How did it work out?
In September 2022 Yvon Chouinard, the CEO of the outdoor clothing company ‘Patagonia’, gave away his entire company, valued at around three billion dollars, to a trust and non-profit organisation. Wisdom or foolishness?
The remit of these organisations is to give the entire annual profits of the company, around 100 million dollars, to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe. Wisdom or foolishness?
I wonder how the conversations went among the angels in heaven when they discovered that God was going to take on human form and come as a baby, to be born in a squalid stable and to die on a cross. Wisdom or foolishness?
The world’s wisdom, as expounded by atheist and sceptics, will probably dismiss such events as a foolish myths, saying either that God does not exist or that God is not big enough to work miracles.
In doing so, according to Paul, they fail to understand the wisdom of God and consequently do not know him. They also dismiss as foolishness the wisdom of God that is seen in the cross of Jesus.
Pray:
Lord Jesus, give me the faith to follow the foolishness of God and to guard against the wisdom of the world.
Amen
The perfect wisdom of our God.
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