I do things for God because I'm super cool

It's really very strange that I am 22 years old. I mean, I look about 12, and I act about 18, so it follows that I'm about...15. Take the average, throw out the 22. Age is just a number, right?



Whatever. I was reading my Bible yesterday--my Bible that is literally falling apart at the seams. Really. I have to hold Romans through Revelation in any time I open it, or else I spill Paul and all the other writer's works all over my dingy little study's floor. I didn't know what I was going to do that morning, other than spend some time with the Lord, listening, maybe talking, maybe just being. And my Bible fell open to this passage. Actually, it fell open to pages 1372-1373. Which was weird, because there are many other well-worn creases in my Bible, but this wasn't a space that it would naturally fall to given the chance. Anyways, this passage was on that page. Minor detail. Ok.



It talks about the characteristics of the people God calls, and the people He doesn't. It is a short list, it goes something like this:

People God calls                                      People God doesn't usually call

foolish                                                      wise*
weak                                                        mighty
despised                                                   noble
base(inferior in value or quality)                 Those with excellent speech
fear and trembling                                      Those who speak persuasively




*It's interesting to me that the "wise men" referred to in this verse is the word sophos,which is the same word used in Genesis 3:6 when it talks about Eve being tempted to eat the fruit that would make her wise. In fact, it's the same word used throughout the Old Testament for the sorcerers and advisers that Pharaohs and kings used to rely on for interpretation of dreams, counsel, etc. Apparently, "earthly wisdom" is akin to what we would call intelligence in these days, street smart. Practicality, prudence(1 Cor. 1:19) and shrewdness even.



So I looked at the lists, and am still looking at the lists. And I am considering which list I strive to emulate.
I'll give you a hint: it isn't the first one. In fact, I'm trying to get rid of most of the things on the first one in my own life.

And I look at the lists and realize that most of Christianity uses these lists too. 

We use the first list to group together those who are not worth paying attention to, those who probably won't be used, those who aren't capable of being about Kingdom work. We use it to qualify those who have "inadequate", or "lesser", faith or, my personal favorite, "This is just not your calling".
 **As an aside that sort of ties in, I have noticed that Christians are some of the worst at eating their own.**

Then, we use the second list to look for leaders for the Christian community, those who obviously know God on a deeper level and have more understanding than most everyone else, and who can lead us and help us grow and, in a sense, provide some spiritual support for us where we just can't seem to be good enough at being Christians.

It seems that we are using these lists to qualify people for use and disuse, just as God uses them to qualify people for use and disuse. That's all well and good, but...

Perhaps the most shocking thing to me is this:


Our "not called" list looks eerily like God's "called" list. And our "called" list looks uncomfortably like God's "not called" list.


Oh. Well. Maybe we are a bunch of fundamentally confused people. 



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1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5


For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But 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; and the 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, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

"Look at God's incredible waste of His saints, according to the world's judgement. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, "God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him." Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where the will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be."
                                                               ~Oswald Chambers