READ:

Read or listen to 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

FOCUS/PRAY:

Our Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray a certain way. What we call “The Lord’s Prayer” is not just a prayer to memorize and recite, but it also gives us a template of how to pray. Use this as your model to pray today, adding your own words after each section.

1. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (Praise God for who he is.)
2. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Petition for God’s mission to come true here on earth.)
3. Give us this day our daily bread. (Ask for your ordinary needs.)
4. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Confess your own sins and actively choose to forgive others.)
5. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Ask for power to overcome temptation and evil.)
6. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. (End with praise and submit your will to God’s.)