“And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
Dear Ones:
When God told Samuel, with regard to choosing His king for Israel, to not look on the outward appearance of a man, He did so to save Samuel from trusting in what he saw, as opposed to what what he could not see…that which was truly in the heart. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth some very insightful thoughts on this subject: “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” (1 Cor. 1:27) Why is it that Paul’s writings reaffirm that which Samuel had to learn? It is because we are called to walk “…in the company of fishermen.” What is meant by that phrase? When Jesus, the eternal Son of God, God incarnate, came into this world, He not only bypassed the courts of the Roman empire of that time, but also chose to be born of a virgin in a stable. Around thirty-three years after His birth, He would come riding into Jerusalem, being heralded by the crowd as, “…the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 19:38) Again, He bypasses the pomp and glory of the nations, that which men would glory in, and live for, in order to reveal something fundamental to men. He is the one who came to live and serve the Father in company with fishermen. These fishermen were ordinary people, not with great educational credentials, or great societal advantages. The twelve apostles were as varied in their “calling’ in life, as they were in their temperaments and dispositions. It is to ordinary, even lowly people, that He came to preach His word of Life, and deliverance. The call of Christ to every person is an individual call to walk in His steps…following Him, knowing Him. This is true worth and life.
Perhaps nowhere in the Bible is the reality of God choosing to bypass the pride and value systems of men, than His declaration through the prophet Joel concerning the outpouring of the Spirit, “…upon all flesh.” He addresses this promise to believers, and their sons and their daughters. He goes on to speak of young and old, servants and maidservants, to be the recipients of this blessing of the Spirit of God, in His fullness. On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were praying for the realization of the promise of the Father, it was upon ordinary people that the Spirit came…upon fishermen, tax collectors, men and women of different walks of life, but all joined together in one purpose, to meet God…or rather to be met by God, according to the words of Jesus. It would be because of the indwelling of the Spirit, His subsequent ministry of revealing the things of Christ to them, and strengthening them to believe Him for God’s kingdom to come, and will be done, that Christ would manifest Himself to the ends of the earth. Paul would later write that the ministry of the Spirit, the result of the outpouring, would be the transformation of these believers. It would be as they worshiped Christ in truth, by the Spirit, as they, “…beheld as in a glass, or mirror, the glory of the Lord that they would be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18) The testimony of the living God would henceforth be magnified by “Christ…dwelling in the heart by faith.” (Eph. 3:17)
Dear Father, Open our eyes to see that You are no respecter of persons, but look into the hearts of all, there to communicate the blessing of Thy Son’s life to the one who will truly believe in Thee. Give us to know the “much more” of which You speak, that we all may have Thy Son’s fullness by the Spirit, ministering His life in every place where You place us. We thank and praise Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad