Day 14 – Issue 13

Be Still Know

1 Corinthians 1:26 NLT

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.

Politicians often position themselves as the champions of the common people. They want to convince us that they are ordinary, like anyone else living down our street. However, the MP expenses scandal and other instances since then have revealed some of them to be hypocrites who prefer to line their own pockets rather than do their best for their constituents.

Jesus didn’t succumb to either the flattery or the bribery of the devil in the wilderness. He consistently associated with the masses as he taught, and the marginalised were forever his focus. Paul reinforces this by stating the ordinariness of the majority of the disciples. In the Christian subculture we can have our own cult of personality, where some individual’s words or activities are promoted and inflated. While it is good to learn from positive experiences, there’s a danger we might tilt the balance and create a hierarchy of value – some Christians are more special, talented or anointed than others.

I have been captivated by Christian platform in the past, and I was helped on my way by well-meaning craftsmen who were shaping the face of popular Christianity across the UK. The affirmation fed me, the platforms profiled me and the promotion paid me. However, thinking I was somebody robbed me of the responsibility to seek out God for myself. I came to rely on the platform and the promotion; I was even pathetic enough to believe my own publicity. God describes such a person as ‘a fool!’ To my shame I was blind, and circumstance made my choice for me; I hadn’t the foresight to make it for myself.

QUESTION: Which gives you the greatest pleasure, the approval of people of the approval of God?

PRAYER: Father, give me the courage today to stand against values that conflict with the upside down kingdom. Instead, help me to turn the world right side up.