Embrace truth; embrace love.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written:

   “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; 
   the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

 ²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

 ²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

This has to be one of my favorite passages of scripture. It humbles me in awe of God’s power and reminds me in the face of doubt (both personal and external) exactly why I believe what I believe—It’s not about who I am and what I can do, it’s completely about who He is and what He has done. There’s nothing I could do in my own strength to convince others of the power of the cross. That is why we need the Holy Spirit.

I’m watching a video of Father Barron discussing the Holy Spirit and it reminded me of this passage and lead me to write this post. The Holy Spirit is to me a friend who likes to tell me the secrets of God’s plan (as He does with all other believers). The only way I get to enjoy this is by surrendering to God—one cannot hear the voice of God if they are not willing to let their guard down and let Him illuminate things. Christians often miss out on this for that very reason; I, too, am forgetful. Because on the other side of things, the Holy Spirit is a protector—the very Spirit of God that moves in power on the earth today. It has the power to reveal God’s heart to the willing and the power to conceal Godly wisdom from the stubborn. It’s no wonder two people can look at the same thing and draw completely opposite meaning from it even if they are of the same faith. The Holy Spirit is frightening to the non-believers, and although they mock the cross, I suspect that deep down it is because they are afraid of its power and their inability to comprehend it. The believers gladly admit that they do not understand, and thus drink freely of God’s grace and the wisdom through the Holy Spirit to reveal such things in our hearts and for God to work through us on the earth today to bring to shame all earthly wisdom.

There are some days I forget to spend time with God, even just to say a short prayer or sing a song to Him on the way to wherever I’m going, and I end up having a terrible day. There are some days that are wrought with peril, but because I spent time with the Lord, the Holy Spirit empowered me to not be affected by it. And most of the time when I’m reading or worshiping, the subject has little to do with what God wants to reveal to me that day. In other words, it’s not that I crack open my Bible and find some serendipitous passage that I need for that day. It’s great when that happens, but there’s something more mysterious and bafflingly supernatural when just getting myself in tune with the Holy Spirit by any means opens the door for him to whisper to me the answers for the trials I’m going through without ever putting it into words. And all I can do is give the glory to God—which, by the way, we can do through both our successes and our failures.