From Nags to Thoroughbreds

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: From Nags to Thoroughbreds ------------------- Date: 11/6/2001
Keywords: "base things" "glory"
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Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:26-29*

26. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

27. but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

28. and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are,

29. that no man should boast before God.

Questions

1. How do you think it went across when the apostle Paul gave his opinion that not many of those in the Corinthian church were wise, mighty, or noble?

 

2. When the apostle Paul mentions "foolish" "weak" and "base" things of the world, to what is he referring?

 

3. Why has God chosen such things/people? (see verse 29)

 

Practical help

When you hear such comments as Paul made in 1 Corinthians, do you realize that he is also speaking to you? "Not many wise; not many mighty; not many noble" — refers to all of us.

Everyone who has placed his (or her) faith in Jesus has, by definition, come to the place of saying, "I don’t have the wisdom to save myself, the strength to save myself, or the nobility to expect deliverance. In fact, I am a sinner in need of grace. Please save me, Jesus!"

It is at that moment that God’s grace is poured out on us, and we become something other than what we were. We become, through Jesus, adopted sons and daughters, clean, saints. Do we still have the capacity to sin? Yep. Are we defined by that sin? Nope. Is "sinner" the best word to use to describe us? No!

God chose the base things of the world — like you and me (He didn’t have much else to work with) — and has transformed those base things into vessels that radiate His own glory. He took glue factory bound nags and turned us into Kentucky Derby thoroughbreds.

And because that work of transformation is His — He gets the glory. Think about who you are in Jesus next time you are tempted to do something "base" like view dirty pictures on the Internet. Such behavior simply doesn’t fit with a thoroughbred racehorse like you, you know.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."