I am tempted by status, but
God always makes status, insignificant.
Watch our Truth in Two to find out how (full text below).
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Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
The status of being a college professor, of having earned a PhD, has always been a great temptation to me. To ascend to a certain level of intellectual ability is the problem of me thinking, “I’ve arrived.” I live in a world where academic degrees are esteemed, and publications are expected. And I will repeat, I am tempted by the esteem of the status, being a university professor brings.
But then I read First Corinthians 1:28 and 29, where Paul says, “The insignificant of the world and the despised God chose, yes, the nothings, bring to nothing the somebodies; so that all kinds of persons should not pride themselves before God.” Anthony Thistleton’s translation gets after the sin of status that I struggle with. A similar problem existed in the Corinthian church. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city and the church there reflected a broad spectrum of people. The church in Corinth had people who were rich and poor, high-society and lowly slaves, the famous and the unknown, the educated and the uneducated.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 and 31 Paul makes it clear that cultural status, position, influence, or the nameplate on someone’s desk matters not at all when it comes to God’s view of people. Paul says that our significance is found in Jesus, ending with, “Let the one who boasts, boast in The Lord.” When I am tempted to glory in my status, I am reminded of these verses. As Paul repeats, no human being can boast in God’s presence.
At the Christmas season we are reminded, “To us a child is born, to us a son is given.” The Father brought His wisdom through the gift of His Son, not through our personal status. God has chosen the weak things of the world, the nobodies, to proclaim his name. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking Truth in the person of Jesus.