Paul understands his primary call to be that of proclamation.
Paul’s conversion came in a flash of light, with Jesus himself
speaking to Paul. The story involved visions, blindness, and
healing. (Read Acts 9.) Most of us do not experience God’s call
on our lives in quite so flashy a way. Rather, it comes in the quiet
of prayer, a whisper of thought, the suggestion of a friend, a
passion that flowers over years. There is nothing dramatic about
the times of doubt and struggle, redefinition and prayer. Many
of us need finally to realize: “Oh! That is what God is telling
me to do!” Few experience anything as certain as God telling us
what to do.

The uncertainty is frightening. The places God sends us and
what we’re asked to do can frighten us. The act of trusting God
and stepping out in faith is scary. Why would God want that?
What is God thinking?

Paul reminds the Corinthians that the wisdom of fancy
speech and status represents the world’s wisdom. The cross of
Christ makes no sense when analyzed logically or when we
employ the code of the survival of the fittest. God’s nature is
love and mercy, goodness and wisdom. Acting from love doesn’t
always make sense. Allowing the Son to die for others doesn’t
make sense. Yet, the Corinthians, who find themselves in conflict
with one another, by their very division empty the cross of
its power.

What God asks of us doesn’t always make sense. But God is
trustworthy. However frightening God’s call may seem, we are
being saved by “the power of God.”