Romans 9:11 (For the Children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth

I Corinthians 1:26-29  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:  27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

An interesting thought to just meditate on is parallel to David and Job’s thoughts in the wisdom books:

Job 15:14  What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? ,
Psa 8:4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psa 144:3  LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!

What is man?  What is man apart from what God has made him to be? Why are we called out of the darkness, why have we been controversially  chosen by God?  The answer is plain as day above, because He called, He created, and He chose to love in covenant.  We have such restless souls, restless lives and restless works apart from God’s perfect rest in His call to us.  Providentially choosing the foolish things to confound the wise and the weak things to confound the mighty, Jesus Christ calls us to Him as we are. To serve Him in the most unconventional ways in the eyes of the unbeliever, to give everything so we may travel to a mission field, to help those who have used others, to love those that hate, to abstain from evil we are so peculiar to the world as we walk in God’s call. Everything the world amps up or makes so large is so menial in God’s kingdom and therefore menial to us.  Money, fame, reputation, entertainment and shut in lives; all these things are lightweights in light of our God and his manifold wisdom and grace.  In such a temporal living space we live in, it is the device of the enemy to completely distract us from the wealth and power in Christ. Just yesterday talking with my father, we discussed the fact that we have the same power that resurrected Christ from the complete power of sin and death! The only things that have dominion over our flesh, Jesus imparted power for us to overcome! To be a victor, what a call, what an honor to be a fellow saint with the apostles and a son of God the Father with Christ

1 John 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1 John 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Reading the Bible, having a pastor-teacher, having fellowship with the church, we have amazing weapons of warfare to sharpen our edge in our walk with Christ.  We have such potential that goes unrealized as we get caught up (forcefully taken) almost in rapture to worldly pursuits. Education, Career training, therapy, psychologist, and more literature than you can shake a stick at; all these things have their use and purpose for God, but if we don’t walk into these things with God’s presence we are being diminished and weakened contrary to His use.  We need to order our steps before the Lord, look unto the lamp unto our feet and the light unto our paths.  We need to be led as David was led by the integrity of his heart (Psa 78:72).

Quick aside, Psalm 78:72 led me to pursue Bible college and a life of ministry for Christ despite the cost of loosing track with my college credit, reputation, and maybe the secure and stable jobs in the future. regardless,I heard a word from God somehow in that verse and it was clear and direct to lead me. God is faithful.

Maybe some reading this may need to reevaluate their direction and current pursuits before God.  If so, know that God will lead, will provide, and will establish you in His kingdom when you choose the walk with Christ over the kings dainties

Pro 23:3  Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

Notice, in the main scripture I Cor. 1:26-29 that God does not call the wise men, the noble men, and the mighty in the world, he gave those talents they use to establish those statuses, but if they are preoccupied with their given talents they will not be called out.  Not after the flesh, not after works, but only on the merit and finished work of Christ will we be called.  Before moving on to the next thought, I would like to park on the talents and statuses people have been given by God.   In this scripture we may get the idea God wants the uneducated, untalented, maybe limited people, but that is not at all the intent. (Although  He indeed calls those people and uses them greatly from what I have witnessed). God called all the apostle’s as they were with their talents, their education, and their skills. God created everything about each and everyone of us with divine purpose to be used at full capacity(something we rarely see ).  This is not a call to better ourselves, seek improvement it is a call to be willing and to be completely available for God’s use. financially,with might, with skillfulness of your hands, with your brain, everything is called to be SUBMITTED to God.  with submission it is easy to serve  God in spite of warfare,  as it will be out-flowing from every facet of our life.  Love this from Tozer as it says what I am conveying so clearly:

“One of the greatest hindrances to the internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas – the sacred and the secular. As these areas are conceived to exist apart from each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live a divided instead of a unified life…I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary. We have gotten ourselves on the horns of a dilemma, true enough, but the dilemma is not real. It is a creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament. Without doubt, a more perfect understanding of Christian truth will deliver us from it…We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them…All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be a priestly ministration. – A. W. Tozer

“Living itself will be a priestly ministration” do we have the faith to believe that for our lives? Take time to think on that, as I will.  My last bit of devotional thought is around the last verses of the main scripture

I Cor 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Our call in Christ is to make things happen, did you catch that? God has chosen things that are not, to bring nought things that are. We were placed into this world to shape it for God’s glory. Be fruitful and multiply, that was the call in the beginning and spiritually it is our call now.  As we submit all things to God, we will see things come forward that no one ever thought possible.  Christians, those living in Christ are the ones who initiate true change in the world not any other entity.  We don’t have to force anything either,we simply stand humbly with Christ proclaiming Him as Lord over our finances, over our successes, over our failures, over our inventions, our intellect, our innovation and over our lives.

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Get to know Christ, be transformed to his way today, submit all to Him as he pours out all spiritual blessings over us.

 Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

He has so much in store for our lives, but we won’t even open the warehouse to see, just see it.  God will supply all our needs and give graciously the desires of our hearts if we will just submit to his way and think and act with Him.  We have allowed Satan to diminish us to just religious people, we are so much more in Christ. Some may be inventors, some may be pioneers in economics, some may be amazing leaders of nations, but all believers are  called to live worthy of the holy calling in utterance of God’s great works, His grace and His truth.

2Co 8:7  Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

We can do anything alongside our ministry of the gospel to the world as we are free in Christ. Sanctify your life to Christ!