“and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.” – Daniel 2:20
Timothy Keller, in his book “Hope In Times Of Fear,” writes: “Let's do a thought experiment. Assemble some business and political consultants who have gone to all the best schools and have worked for the best companies and campaigns and whose clients have seen the most success. Bring them together and pose this question: "I have a goal. My long-term goal is to be the most influential and famous person who ever lived. Centuries from now I want to have whole civilizations built on my teachings, and I want to be at the center of the lives of hundreds of millions of people. What should I do to accomplish this?"
Assuming the world's greatest consultants took you seriously, what would they say? Would it be anything like this? "Be born in obscurity. Avoid ever getting involved in any of the powerful political or economic or academic networks. Be tragically killed in your early thirties, before you ever write a book." Of course, they would not give that counsel. But that’s how Jesus did it, and he makes foolish the wisdom of the world.
And consider how greatly he would have failed if he had followed the world's advice for becoming successful. What if he had come as a philosopher with a great intellectual system of thought? Then the only people helped by him would have been the intellectuals. What if he had led a powerful movement of moral teaching with himself as the living example? Then only the people strong, able, and accomplished enough to imitate him would have benefitted.
But across both history and the nations of the world, we have seen people from all classes and conditions finding peace and power in the gospel of Jesus. Poor people do not gather in homes to discuss Plato or Aristotle, but they do to study and talk about the message of Jesus, and their lives are changed by it. Jesus did not come and say, “I’m strong and brilliant. Now pull yourself together and you can be like me.” Jesus Christ exchanged places with you. He came to live the life you should have lived and die the death you should have died so you could be reconciled to God, forgiven, and remade.
This is why the gospel message is good for everyone and its transforming power continues to grow across the face of the earth. It's not just for the moral, the strong, the brilliant. It doesn't matter who you are or what you’ve done.”
Our Lord God, the Creator of the Universe; His power is overwhelming. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that He is all-powerful and ask Him to work powerfully through you this day.
“The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost thinking about it.” – Blaise Pascal
God’s Word: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21
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