Daily Devotional for Saturday, May 31

The Result of God’s Wisdom

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,”

1 Corinthians 1:21

Servant leadership is a leadership style in which the leader’s goal is to serve others both within and without the organization he or she is leading. Priorities are given to meeting the needs of other employees, involving others in all stages of the work, and causing others to truly feel like they are a part of the success. Servant leadership strives to be ethical, character-based and others-centered. Under this model of leadership, a strong leader is one who does not play the role of the strong man. The successful leader is the one who spreads his success to others in the organization.

            This sounds paradoxical, and in many ways it is. But it also should sound like Jesus. His teachings, and specifically His teachings about leadership, are the seeds of this leadership style. Jesus repeatedly showed that the way up is down, that the greatest must be the least and that the first must be last.

            Paradox is the way of Jesus. In our text, God upended human wisdom by His foolishness. Preaching, and specifically the preaching of a dying Savior on a cross who rose again the third day, is absolute foolishness to the world. A Savior does not die—He lives. A righteous person is not crucified on a cross—he is elevated to a throne. And dead men stay dead. Jesus turned all of this worldly wisdom upside down. The paradox of the cross, and Jesus’ perfect example of servant leadership, made the wisdom of the world into foolishness, and the foolishness of God into victory. Ironically, death brought life, the cross brought the crown and dead men do come back to life.

PRAYER

“Father, use my weakness for your strength, my inability for your ability and my ignorance for your wisdom, Amen.”

Jason Rutherford