I CORINTHIANS 1:30-31: “You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God. Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, and our ransom from sin. As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.” (GW)‭‭

OBSERVATION: Everything we have is a gift from God! This sounds like a simple statement, but as we think about it this statement seems to grow exponentially like the stars in the universe expand into seemingly endless galaxies. Every good gift, every grace of life, every virtue we possess is from God, and has been give to us only because He has made us partners with Jesus Christ through faith.

In our culture we love to give each other accolades. Every year after the holidays we are inundated with a plethora of award shows. Each one is but a mirror of the last – men and women glorifying other men and women for their accomplishments. Every once in a while someone will give thanks to the Lord, but this is usually just a short remark at the end. To be honest, we all love to receive praise. There is nothing wrong with showing sincere appreciation to others – but praise and adoration belongs to God alone!

Paul knew that everything he possessed, everything he was, and everything he was becoming was from God through Christ Jesus. He reminds the Corinthians – “…Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, our ransom from sin.” Jesus is our all in all. Everything that was created was created by Him, through Him, and for Him. If we neglect this truth we find ourselves adrift on a sea of our own deception trusting in a false sense of our own importance.

To a great degree we need to recapture the great “otherness” of God! The great cathedrals were built by those who recognized this great “otherness”. God alone was God, worthy to be praised, high and lifted up, deserving of our utmost and best. In our culture we have made God just one of the boys. As a result, we have begun to forget and ignore His sovereignty and ceased from giving Him the glory He alone deserves.

The awe of the Christian Faith is that the Creator of all the universe, the high and holy God, humbled himself and became a man to dwell among us, to become our sacrifice for sin. The reality of the Christian Faith is that Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, now has ascended to heaven and sits once again enthroned in glory, wonder, and power. The wonder of the Christian Faith is that He reaches down to us, and by grace through faith, becomes our approval with the Father, our holiness before the Father, our wisdom from the Father, and over victory over sin.

There is nothing we can add to this full and complete work. There is only one thing that we can do – we can give Him the glory due His Name! “…As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.”

In Jesus Name!