1 Corinthians 1:26-27 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthywhen God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
God’s verdict on people differs very markedly from our own. In fact, God’s verdict turns human judgements upside down. When it comes to being powerful in human terms, God chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful, and when it comes to people who might be important God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. And as for worldly wisdom and great intelligence God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.
The repeated theme is ‘God chose…’
Here we come up against one of the great mysteries of human life. Paul faces up to this in Romans 9 where he writes about Jacob and Esau.
This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes. He calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son. In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”
God is God – He does not choose people on the grounds of some special merit they have, but out of his great compassion He chooses to call some.
We want to shout back at God – ‘WHY…WHY?’ Bad question!
All we can do is to stand in total amazement and be thankful that God loves us in spite of what we are and have done. That is what grace is all about, the undeserved favour of God in choosing me to be a follower of Jesus.