Read
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NIV)
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. 

 Reflect 
No one likes to be let down. No one likes to be disappointed, especially when the one disappointing us is someone we respect and trust. The problem is, eventually everyone we admire will disappoint us in one way or another. The parent who seemed perfect while you were a child suddenly reveals flaws as you grow older and wiser. The professor who seemed to know it all when you were in school turns out to have made mistakes. No matter whom we admire or how much we admire them, eventually, they will let us down. 

The missionary couple that took us through a bible study early in our faith reminded us that Jesus will never let you down while people will at some point let you down. The point being that we should always look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith not to the people, as nice and well-meaning as they are, because at some point they will let you down. That was very good advice. 

I am glad to say that there have been relatively few people that I looked up to that have disappointed me. At the same time there have been many peers, friends and colleagues that have failed to live up to what I thought they should be as followers of Jesus. Come to think of it I too have been a disappointment to people with whom I am connected. Why is it this way? Because we are all sinners and we will all fall short of how we live and who we should be. 

Paul makes his plea to the Corinthian church so they would not have higher expectations of who he was and that the message was the valuable treasure: Jesus and him crucified! Paul goes on to explain that the message itself came under the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. It was not conjured up in his own thinking. 

Thankfully, the forgiveness of our sins and hope of heaven does not rely on the people who preach to us about it. It relies on the cross of Christ–where he shed his blood to pay for the sins that separated us from our God. It is an accomplished fact. 

No matter how often other people disappoint us, Jesus never has and never will. 

Pray
Father, draw me to the cross, to Jesus the perfect lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice and let me lean on him and him only. Might I find in you Lord Jesus my healing, my strength, my everything. Amen.