The Book Of 1st Corinthians With Jennie Allen: A Video Bible StudySample

Think Like Jesus

The law of scarcity dominates our world. It is a perspective that believes we only have so much to go around—so much food, so much affection, so much advancement, so much love, etc.—and since all of these good things are limited in scope, we become greedy for what we think is the little available to us. We live in fear, afraid we will lose what little we have. We pull inward, guarding the successes and relationships and possessions we have with no energy or trust to share them.

Society encourages this “me first” attitude by telling us to do more, try harder, win however we can, doing whatever it takes. What an exhausting way to live.

Thankfully, Jesus has set us free from the bondage of putting ourselves first. He offers us an upside-down perspective on what the abundant life really looks like. After all, he is a crucified savior, the Son of God who came to serve the lowliest, who preached that the last would be first and the first last and that true life could only be found when we lost it. His Beatitudes (see Matthew 5 and Luke 6) confound the common wisdom of the world, upending its “survival of the fittest” logic with “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5).

In our passage today, Paul encourages the Corinthians to think like Jesus rather than the world:

“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1:20); “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom” (1:25).

The cross sounds like foolishness to a world without the wisdom of God. A savior who dies? A poor, disgraced teacher worshiped as the living God? We are supposed to turn the other cheek when attacked? We should give in order to receive? My salvation doesn’t depend on how smart or strong I am? How does this work, exactly? It does not make sense to those without the Spirit of God (2:10).

It is in dying that Christ brought true life. We don’t need the world’s wisdom to thrive. We don’t have to fear that the good life will trickle through our fingers unless we grasp it tightly enough. Jesus, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1:24), offers us freedom from self as we turn our eyes outward to loving and serving others.

Because he died and rose again, the sin of those who trust in that sacrifice is wiped away—no longer held against us. By grace, he welcomes us to his side, into the abundant life full of love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, and the like.

Instead of living under the oppressive law of scarcity, we rejoice in the law of abundance. When we view the world with Christ’s eyes, bringing the wisdom of God to bear in our circumstances, we thrive even during difficult times.