1 Corinthians 1
10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters,[c] by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,[d]” or “I follow only Christ.”
13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!
18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”[e]
20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
27 But (AP)God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [m]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
[SIZE=6]God uses those who are willing.[/SIZE]
You’ve heard the saying, “God can’t steer a parked car.” We have to start our engines and give God access to us. He will pass over the best and the brightest for the available and obedient.
[SIZE=6]2. God works in our weakness.[/SIZE]
We don’t like feeling helpless and inadequate, but that’s when we depend on him rather than ourselves. The Lord told Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9), and it’s true of us, as well.
[SIZE=6]3. It’s never too late to discover your purpose.[/SIZE]
Moses was 80 when he liberated the Israelites from bondage. Sarah and Abraham were 90 and 100, respectively, when they became first-time parents in a covenant to create a great people. And of course, Noah was 500 years old when he started building the ark. The results of their actions show that God’s timing is perfect. Age is no impediment to being used powerfully by God.
[SIZE=6]4. All of us have something God can use.[/SIZE]
Moses had a staff. David a slingshot. A boy had a simple lunch that somehow fed 5,000 people. The question isn’t whether what we have is good enough for God—it’s whether we will offer what we have for his service.
God has called each of us to join him in his kingdom mission, no credentials required. Inevitably, we’ll face a Goliath or an impasse like the Red Sea, and sometimes we’ll feel unequal to the task.
But the good news is, God’s plan doesn’t rely on our greatness, but rather on his. He fashioned us in our mothers’ wombs and placed us in the world for “such a time as this” (Est. 4:14). And in discovering our purpose, we become the person God created us to be.