Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

 Christ: The Great Teacher

1 Corinthians 1: 25-31

The above passage given as reference describes the foolishness of the gospel in the world’s eyes. Both the Jews and the Greeks rejected the idea of Christ being crucified on the cross.

How could a God sacrifice his life for human sinfulness?
Why would a God need to die on a Roman cross?
Wouldn’t the worldly eyes consider such a God to be weak and foolish?

But the God we know is neither weak nor foolish. He will put to shame those who consider themselves wise and strong by bestowing the ability to believe on the cross of Christ, to those the world considers weak and foolish- in human terms. In the end none will boast of their wisdom and strength before our Heavenly Father.

We believe that each of us is called to be His own 
Neither by influence nor by noble birth;
Neither by philosophies nor because of the wealth we possess.

We are called as God thought it fit for his own wise reasons. He chose and called different persons including mechanics, fishermen, illiterates and every common man to believe and do His will. We are chosen by His Grace- to receive salvation. Our qualifications, wealth or nobility do not contribute towards receiving salvation, so how can it hinder the salvation our Lord is graciously giving us?

God uses the weak to shame the strong. God rejoices and is glorified by doing great things with the weak and foolish instruments of the world- Humanity.

Our life’s experiences will flash before our eyes reiterating that God does use each of us as His instruments-He takes great pride in doing so. He uses us not in spite of our weakness, but because of our weakness and He assures us as He assured Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

It is Christ who is the wisdom of God in human form.
It is Christ who made it possible for us to be declared righteous by God.
It is Christ who is righteous and we are in Christ.
It is Christ because of whom we have been sanctified.
It is Christ whose death on the cross bought us redemption for our sins.

It is Christ who is The Great Teacher.

• Christ leaned not on his own understanding but on God’s wisdom and timing. He submitted himself to the direction of the Father. Christ’s wisdom was beyond the wisdom of this world . His interpretations and perspectives were completely novel. Hence Paul mentions; Worldly wisdom is foolishness before Godly wisdom.

We must therefore never stop listening to what God and his WORD has to say for our life.

• Christ lived the life he taught us to live. He practiced his preaching’s that we may follow His teachings. His life displayed in all its essence his unconditional love for mankind. Let us take up our cross and lead by example

We too must therefore practice what we preach and lead the hard way, like Christ did.

• Christ spoke with such authority and conviction that only belongs to those who speak the truth. He fully believed what he spoke and left no scope for ambiguity. He dealt firmly with the wrongdoers and confronted them with conviction. The truth will set you to be fearless

We are called to believe in the Truth and share the Truth fearlessly empowered by God’s grace.

We are aware that a teacher adds purpose to our lives and inspires us to live a life sublime by drawing from within us our potentials and sculpting us for a greater cause. The knowledge a teacher shares dispels the darkness of ignorance around us and brings us to the light. This knowledge is good and commendable…BUT…

Can it Save us? …
Christ: The Great Teacher can- (by leaning on God’s wisdom, leading by example and sharing the truth fearlessly.)

He is the Salvation we seek .
Therefore, Paul was able to write in Philippians 3: 7 ‘But whatever were gain to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.’

He was encouraged to live the exemplary life he lived, and continues to encourage others as well.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to fix my eyes on Christ and his teachings. Direct me to recognize and reject the foolish philosophies of the wise world. May I glory in the cross of Christ alone and lead by example.

Thought of the day
Acquisition of knowledge may give us power while Christ; The Great Teacher can empower us.
 

Janice Manickam
Wesley Church, India

Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church