In First Corinthians 1:17-29 the apostle Paul writes about the preaching of the Gospel. Four times in those verses he uses the word “foolishness” in regard to its proclamation and message. The word translated as “foolishness” comes from the Greek term moria, meaning: “stupid, foolish, nonsense.” Paul states throughout this text that the world considers the preaching of the Gospel to be “stupid.”

That being the case, it is easy to see why people in the world might consider my chosen profession as the stupidest job on earth. I spend my days and weeks preaching and teaching the doctrines of a man some call a myth, a legend, or a hoax. I actually stand up in public and talk about a man being raised from the dead and expect people to believe it. I live my life in devotion to a Being I cannot see, have never heard with my own ears, who lives in a place to which I have never been.

On top of that, I work in a profession that is the earthly definition of a “dead-end job.” I do not spend my Sundays preaching to the richest and most powerful people in the world. I spend every day working with those who are common people, struggling to make it through each day, week, month, and year. There is no view toward advancement in my profession, for there is no ladder of success. The level I am at now, at the age of 31, is the greatest level I will ever attain.  There are no promotions to be had, only more of the same though the places may, at times, change. I do not have retirement accounts, insurance, much of a savings account, a new car, new house, or new much of anything else; and the amount of possessions I currently have are likely to be about all I will ever have. To the world’s view, I am voluntarily working the stupidest job on earth.

Fortunately, that’s only one side of the picture. Paul would also talk about that same Gospel that, to those that are lost, is stupid being that which, to the saved, “is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18; Rom. 1:16). You see, by obedience to the Gospel and the profession I have chosen, I have the opportunity to tell the greatest true story ever told. I get to help people see the unseen, hear that which they’ve never heard, and glimpse a very real place that their physical eyes will never behold. I may not have insurance, but I have assurance (2 Tim. 1:12); I may have no retirement on earth, but I have the greatest retirement home man has ever seen awaiting me in Heaven (John 14:1-3); I have little savings, yet I hold the greatest treasure (Mat. 6:19-21); and though few on this earth may ever know my name, the greatest Being in existence knows me by name (Luke 12:28-30).

May God continue to bless those who preach and teach his word and through belief and obedience accept his salvation. Paul concluded his thought by writing: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'” (1 Cor. 1:30-31). To God be the glory.