Listen

In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

1 Corinthians 1:21-23

Think

When we ask for signs it is because some part of us believes God works in surprising, miraculous ways and that we can ask for these signs to happen.

In high school, I met with my advisor each week, and mostly she told stories about surviving WWII in Eastern Europe, immigrating to America, and desegregating the school.

She told this story and also wrote about it in her memoir, Then God Said Count to Ten (Nadia Danett, 2021): During WWII soldiers searched her home every night for hidden Jews. On the night she hid Jewish friends in her cellar, the soldiers’ heavy-footed searching caused canned tomatoes to explode. The scared soldiers shot at the tomato jars without looking, making a bigger mess. The mess must have embarrassed them, because they stopped their search, saving everyone’s lives.

We look for signs, and we might find them in worldly things. But Paul says the world will come to know God through preaching. My advisor wasn’t a traditional preacher, but she diligently planted seeds of faith that led me to come to depend on Jesus.

Brian Smith

Pray

God, I want to believe you’ve got a story with my life worth preaching. Sometimes it’s so easy to lose sight of what you’re doing. Would you show me a moment today where I notice you’re at work? Show me the wisdom of Christ in my life. Amen.

Go

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

What one thought do you want to meditate on today to see more of God?

Who needs to hear an encouraging word from your mouth?