A Simple Word ...

The Power of the Gospel

Photo by Vadim Key: Licensed from Storyblocks

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV) ^“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

We’re familiar with this verse. It’s quoted often. It carries an important truth; one we ought to be reminded of - because it’s easy to lose our grip on.

I spend, let’s just say, a lot of time online. As a content creator, I watch a lot of videos and read a lot of articles. I’m impressed by a clever argument, enamored by erudition, enchanted by elocution. So, when composing a script or writing an article, I find myself aiming for the clever and elegant. I admit it - I want to be a wordsmith others admire. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, rebukes that with verse 18.

It isn’t wrong to want to do my best when communicating the Gospel. I should. The error lies in wanting to be clever and verbally impressive; to locate the power, not in the actual message of the Gospel but in how I share it.

As I read the first chapter of First Corinthians this morning and came to this verse, I was convicted by the subtle relocation of power I’d made from The Word to my words.

Photo by Beyza Yalçın; courtesy of Pexels

An image moved across my thoughts of a farmer sowing seeds; dressed in weather beaten, sun-bleached clothes, seed-bag slung over his shoulder, scattering seed by hand. He sows, knowing that while some seed will be eaten by birds, and other won’t produce, many of those seeds will sprout into a rich harvest of life. As he sows, he doesn’t worry about which seeds will sprout and which won’t. He sows, knowing he needs to for there to be a harvest.

How deftly he swings his hand, the flourish at the end of each cast, never crosses his mind. He knows getting the seed out is the thing. He trusts in the power of each seed to do its thing, not in HOW he sows.

I need to do that with the Gospel seed God’s entrusted me with. Yes, some of it will fall on the wayside to be eaten by crows. Some will fall on shallow or thorny soil. But some WILL fall on fertile soil too. It’s not my concern where it lands or HOW I sow it - only that I do.