Totally inadequate

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

¹ And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

A testimony of being empowered by the Spirit.

Despite his credentials as a teacher of the law, a Jew and a great evangelist, Paul says he felt totally inadequate and scared to death (Message translation) when he came to Corinth to share the testimony about God. Hard to believe isn’t it – Paul, who had received an incredible revelation of Jesus and then an amazing healing from blindness, who was obviously a confident orator. Yet he was intimidated.

However, Paul says his inadequacy was an opportunity. In reaching more people with the “testimony about God” he had two powerful things that were operating over and above his ability. He had an incredible message of Jesus – who he is and why he died. And he had the power of the Holy Spirit.

As he has set out in Chapter 1, Jesus crucified does not appear to be a message of power and life to people who do not know God. But his life and death are the wisdom of God, by which his plans for our salvation are realised. That is why Paul’s message was first and last Jesus.

How did he get over his inadequacy and fear in bringing that message? He was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

(What a fantastic testimony of Paul to share these feelings with us – most people would gloss over these feelings and focus on how successful their ministry is – boasting in their own abilities as he calls it. So, it is so helpful to know even he struggled in sharing the life-giving story of Jesus Christ.)

I want to reach more people for Jesus, and when I pray about that I focus on 2 things:

• That the Holy Spirit will reveal God to them
• That the Holy Spirit will use my words to reveal Jesus.

I can’t just hope that my prayers and good works alone will do it. I have to think about what God wants me to say to people who live as if God didn’t exist but who are missing out on the greatest relationship ever and forever. It has to be Jesus first and last.

Dear Lord Jesus, your Spirit is with me, and while your wisdom is unfathomable to most, He will open hearts and ears and minds to the truth of Jesus’ death for all. Open hearts today, Lord.

Amen

Written by Claire Moore