Listen

For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

1 Corinthians 1:25

Think

We tend to think our experiences are “normal” for everyone. We assume that everyone has the same struggles we do, that everyone’s family is like ours, that our opinions are the right ones. It can be hard to remember that not everyone shares (or even wants to share!) our lives or our ideas.

We can’t apply our “normal” to other people, and we can’t apply human standards to God. When we try to use any human scale to measure God’s wisdom and strength, we immediately realize that our measuring tools don’t work! God not only exceeds the limits of our scales, God’s wisdom and strength don’t even fit the world’s definitions. Instead of straight A’s, God’s wisdom is “foolish” — lifting up the poor, feeding the hungry, being a servant. Instead of muscle mass, God’s strength is “weakness” — walking together, sharing the load, laying down one’s life.

No matter how smart or how strong we think we are, when we live according to God’s “foolishness” and “weakness,” we experience measures of love that are beyond compare!

Nikki Finkelstein-Blair

Pray

God, whether I feel smart or slow, strong or feeble, let me experience your “foolish” wisdom and your “weak” strength — the immeasurable power of your love! Amen.

Go

When we let God surprise us
with expansive,
impartial,
unconditional,
all-embracing love,
we cannot help but carry that love
to our world.
Let our message catch people off-guard:
that God loves them beyond belief,
and so do we.