Wednesday // 4th December 2024
AN ARMY OF OUTCASTS
While focusing on Jesus’ ministry, carried on through His body, the church, James makes the following observation:
> “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” (James 2:5).
Paul makes a similar conclusion in his letter to the very unlovely Corinthian church when he says: Brothers, 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. 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. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
Here then from both James and Paul is this conclusion drawn: God has sovereignly chosen to work in the world by beginning with the weak who are on the outside,’ not the powerful who are on the ‘inside. The claim here is not that the poor are inherently more righteous or sanctified than the rich. There is no place in the Bible that indicates that poverty is a desirable state or that material things are evil. In fact, wealth is viewed as a gift from God. The point is simply that, for His own glory, God has chosen to reveal His kingdom in the place where the world, in all of itspride, would least expect it, among the foolish, the weak, the lowly, and the despised.
Therefore, stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. By doing this, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you. Because we are Christ’s body, His church.
Your brother in Christ,
Apostle Ashok Martin