Where Is Your Faith Grounded?

I Corinthians 2:4-5

Have you ever trusted someone to do something only to be let down by them? I have and it usually has a deadline attached to it. Not only does this stink, but it also tends to crush your faith in that individual or institution. That is the very reason Paul says what he does in these two verses.

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And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

I Corinthians 2:4-5

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Paul told the church at Corinth that he did not try to win them with flowery speech, persuasive arguments, or big words. He said that he spoke plainly. His desire was for the Holy Spirit to use his feeble words to do a work in the people's hearts. He did not want his words doing the work.

Sometimes we try too hard. We try our best to convince people that they need to be saved, or that they need to change their ways. Too often we actually convince them, but their faith is only as deep as our words. Just as Jesus said in the parable of the soils, when outside pressure is applied, they dry up and whither away because "they had no root" (Matthew 13:5-6).

When a person's faith is a work of the Holy Spirit, they will be like seed in the good ground (Matthew 13:8). Their faith will be in God and not in our words. Paul argued that the "wisdom of men" was weak and that the perceived "foolishness of God" was wiser than man's wisdom. So, he wanted people's faith rooted and established in the wisdom of God. This faith is established in the "demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (v. 4).

Father, hep me to not try to win people to you. May I proclaim the Gospel in simple words. I pray you use those words to convict, convert, and establish people in you.