"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Wednesday, 1 February 2017 with Scripture 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)

"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Wednesday, 1 February 2017 with Scripture 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16) 
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1 Corinthians 2:1 As for me, brothers, when I arrived among you, it was not with surpassing eloquence or wisdom that I came announcing to you the previously concealed truth about God; 2 for I had decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Yeshua the Messiah, and even him only as someone who had been executed on a stake as a criminal. 3 Also I myself was with you as somebody weak, nervous and shaking all over from fear; 4 and neither the delivery nor the content of my message relied on compelling words of “wisdom” but on a demonstration of the power of the Spirit, 5 so that your trust might not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power.
6 Yet there is a wisdom that we are speaking to those who are mature enough for it. But it is not the wisdom of this world or of this world’s leaders, who are in the process of passing away. 7 On the contrary, we are communicating a secret wisdom from God which has been hidden until now but which, before history began, God had decreed would bring us glory. 8 Not one of this world’s leaders has understood it; because if they had, they would not have executed the Lord from whom this glory flows. 9 But, as the Tanakh says,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard
and no one’s heart has imagined
all the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.”[1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:3(4), 52:15]
10 It is to us, however, that God has revealed these things. How? Through the Spirit. For the Spirit probes all things, even the profoundest depths of God. 11 For who knows the inner workings of a person except the person’s own spirit inside him? So too no one knows the inner workings of God except God’s Spirit. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, so that we might understand the things God has so freely given us. 13 These are the things we are talking about when we avoid the manner of speaking that human wisdom would dictate and instead use a manner of speaking taught by the Spirit, by which we explain things of the Spirit to people who have the Spirit. 14 Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God — to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit. 15 But the person who has the Spirit can evaluate everything, while no one is in a position to evaluate him.
16 For who has known the mind of Adonai?
Who will counsel him?[1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13]
But we have the mind of the Messiah![Complete Jewish Bible]
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A friend of mine once told me that he tried to live in a Christ-like way because he "may be the only Bible someone has to read." That comment has stuck with me ever since I first heard it. Dusty wasn't someone that appeared to be holier-than-thou or who lived with any arrogance or presumption of his own perfection. Rather, he was a person that tried tirelessly to love all and to be love to everyone he encountered. His motivation came from his understanding of the call that Christ gives us.
In the reading from 1 Corinthians today, Paul also articulates his motivation for the way he lives. It is very important for him to keep the message simple. Rather than using "lofty words or wisdom" he focuses on the crucified Christ and the power of the living God. While Paul often seems to lose his audience in rambling sentences and concepts, the focus here is on what God does in Christ...period. What has God done for you? Do people around you know? If not, maybe they should. 
God of majesty and might, you alone are our completion. Fill us with your love and compassion and embolden us to share what you have done for us every day. Give us words to speak and ears to hear your message and your hope. Amen.
Justin A Grimm, '05
Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop for Next Generation Ministries, Saint Paul Area Synod
1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.
7 But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"--
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny.
16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. [New Revised Standard Version]

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