Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai
Words of Wisdom
(Read 1 Corinthians 1:27-31, 2:1-5)
As one who has interest in history and literature, I sometimes find myself being fascinated by the famous speeches of some great statesmen of the world history. I would admire them for the words of wisdom that they used and for the convincing effect of their speeches to their audiences.
This reminds me of the cult leaders with considerable numbers of following. They all have the wisdom, power, and ‘good political skills’ to convince people into joining their religion. I could even compliment them for their charisma. But as I have noticed, these religious leaders / ‘philosophers’ all share a common denominator. Like those lofty statesmen, they preach with much boasting and words of wisdom. At the end, the glory goes to them, not to God.
Well, I must also admit that I sometimes have this kind of attitude. At those times, whenever I prepare my lesson for my students in Sunday School, I would focus myself on how should I teach my lesson to them. And that is without thinking of how should my way of teaching affect their spiritual lives. I would try to teach God’s word to the kids, only to wrap it up with failure. And even if the study seemingly ends with success, the credit goes to me, not to the One Whom I should glorify. You see, it’s all about how I teach my students, not about how I act as God’s teaching tool for them.
In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, the Apostle Paul wrote that he did not proclaimed “the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” Rather, he preached “in weakness and in fear and much trembling.” For he did not want the faith of the Corinthian believers to “rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Furthermore, he relied on the power of the Holy Spirit rather than relying on his own. He never sought to be recognized for his wisdom. Instead, he counted whatever he had to gain as “loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). As a result, Paul successfully pioneered many churches all across the Roman world and became one of the great model missionaries in the church history.
We ministers of God are at times overfocused on trying to please people. There is nothing wrong with pleasing people as long as your words and actions glorify God. But we should also remember that our job, like Jesus’, is not to convince people but to do “the will of the One Who sent” us (John 6:38). For we are not to receive honor from people but from God (John 4:55).
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