Wildflowers and Weeds

Wildflowers and Weeds

Suggested Bible Reading
For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
-1 Corinthians 1:22-31 (NRSV)


Today's Scripture
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.-1 Corinthians 1:27 (NRSV)


MY wife loves to gather wildflowers and weeds along roadsides and in abandoned fields to make bouquets. There is something about these "lilies of the field" that brings joy and creates beauty. Unlike in a garden where beautiful flowers are a result of toil, wildflowers survive with only God's care, and they are often surprising in their beauty, abundance, and fragrance.

Even the wildflowers we call weeds can have great beauty. God apparently enjoys picking human "weeds," each one beautiful in its own way and capable of the miraculous when combined in a bouquet pleasing to God. The genealogy of Jesus reported in Matthew 1:1-16 certainly contains people whom some would consider weeds: Rahab, a prostitute; Ruth, a Moabite foreigner; and David, an adulterer. Jesus also seemed to pick weeds as he assembled his disciples from among fishermen, tax collectors, and political zealots. However, the combination of all these "weeds" carried the message of grace and salvation throughout the world.
Jerry T. Lang (Michigan, USA)

Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for using us just as we are. Help us join with others as imperfect as ourselves to work in your kingdom, as we pray, "Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."* Amen.

Thought for the Day
We do not have to be perfect to be used by God.

Prayer Focus
Perfectionists