Everyone is reevaluating their priorities. With all the upheaval in society, we have to ask, “What matters most?”
For us, Jesus Christ is the paramount priority. Our first desire is to know and be known by him. “To live is Christ . . .” Paul says (Phil. 1:21). In a time of resignation and reluctance, we enter a season of Recommitment in November.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Jesus, you said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). I know, and you know better, that my love for you has faltered. My heart and soul are bent toward self. My mind is easily distracted and my strength fails. But I know you are gracious. Forgive me. Show me loving kindness. Reform my heart and soul, mind and strength, that I may be fully devoted to you. Amen.
Word: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Meditation
You are not a brand, and you do not need to promote yourself. This statement seems obvious but is becoming more revolutionary as we progress deeper into the social media age. It is refreshing to read that Paul’s work and ministry were not about himself. Paul, the poet and articulator of the riches of the gospel, did not speak with ‘plausible words of wisdom’ but instead relied on the power of God.
The life of a Christian is not primarily about self-promotion or even self-fulfillment. We are called, instead, to boast in our weakness in order to demonstrate the Spirit and power of God. THis is convenient because life will give us ample opportunities to boast in our weakness, if only we are honest. There is hope, joy, and peace through Jesus Christ as long as we give an honest assessment of our situation.
We have no power apart from the power of God, and the power of God is illustrated most clearly on the cross. At the moment of his greatest weakness, Jesus Christ claimed power over sin. In his dying – the most literal form of self abandonment – Jesus destroyed the power of death.
You are not a brand to be marketed as you climb the ladder of spiritual success. There are no bootstraps that could pull you out of the hole you find yourself in, no life-hacks to save you from death. You are a fallen human being who has been brought back to life through Christ and him crucified. That is something to boast about!
We pray: Come, Lord Jesus. May I abandon my self preservation and promotion projects and boast only in you. Amen.
Prayer
Into your hand, Father, we commend our spirits; our minds to know you, our hearts to love you, our wills to serve you, for we are yours. Receive us and draw us after you, that we may follow your steps. Take us and fashion us after your image. Into your hands, O Lord. Amen.
Benediction
May the grace of the Lord Jesus sanctify us and keep us from all evil; may he drive far from us all hurtful things; may he bind us to himself by the bond of love, and may his peace abound in our hearts. Amen.