1 Corinthians 1:25

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

There is an old lie to which Americans are particularly susceptible.  It is the lie that “God helps those who help themselves.”  This is the basis for much of our culture’s worship of wealth and power.  It is founded on the thoroughly pagan notion that $ucce$$ equals God’s favor. The truth is far different.  For the truth is that God helps those who realize they can’t help themselves.  He calls not winners, but losers.  He honors the lowest, not the highest.  He came to heal the sick, not those who are well. So if you have experienced rejection by the world, remember: you’re in good company.  God himself was rejected by the world too.  If you have been called a fool, rejoice: so was Jesus.  If you have been weak in sin but strong in repentance and faith, have hope. It was over you that a peasant woman named Mary, living on the fringes of society in the first century could rejoice, “He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance and lifted up the meek and lowly.”