Daily Devotional for February 12, 2012

1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.

There is a new commercial airing for StraightTalk cell phone service that has people talking like they are rich and worldly, while they look for their clunker car in the parking lot. In this commercial, a lady is talking on her cell phone to someone about serving Cornish game hen versus chicken, because “everyone gets their own baby chicken on their own baby plate” and an endive salad. She then argues about the pronunciation of the word “endive” as she tries to open a very expensive car that is dubbed “the car of a hip-hop music mogul.” She asks her husband why her keyless remote will not open the car door, and he points across the lot and says, “… because we drive a station wagon.” The point of the commercial is that saving money on her cell phone bill has made the woman feel rich and important - and speak to others with arrogance.

A lot of us are trying to be something or someone we aren’t. Even more of us are failing to recognize who we truly are! We are the chosen heirs of God Almighty, which makes each a prince or a princess… our Father is the King of Kings! Too many of us make excuses… “I’m not smart enough… thin enough, rich enough… from the right family. I’m the wrong color or the wrong gender. I didn’t go to college. I’m different… people don’t like me. I’m ugly, my hair is too curly (or straight)… my nose is too big… I’m too short or too tall.” We give up quickly and let poor health, our social, economic, and educational status (or lack of one), and more limit what God can do with us. We fail to recognize the power of positive thinking and speaking… a need to change our words!

Today, let’s start speaking positively. Let’s “call things that be not as though they were.” In other words, try saying “I can,” instead of “I can’t.” Recognize that God wants to do amazing things in and through you… and if He believes you are good enough, this is all that matters. Don’t start talking like someone else and pretending to be more important than you already are. Realize that you are amazing, incredible, and perfectly formed by God Almighty… and that’s more than enough. Ask God to show you how and where to use what He has given you - for His glory. Blow a trumpet for God, and get ready for Him to knock your socks off with blessings.

©2012 Debbie Robus

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