"God has a strategy to exalt his Son and magnify his grace. That strategy is to choose the foolish, weak, and lowly people of the world as his own.
"The world esteems the intellect of professionals, the influence of the powerful, and the nobility of the upper classes. It thinks these things matter. But our boast is in Christ Jesus. He alone is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Our standing before God is wholly unrelated to our intellect, social class, or wealth. It is all of his grace.
"And so there can be no mistake or confusion, God chooses the lowly, the poor, the unrespectable, and the marginalized to populate his kingdom. He does this to shame and nullify human pride. This is great! Those the world esteems are nothing in the kingdom of God. And those the world despises, God exalts. He lifts them up and gives them places of honor. And unless we adopt their despised and lowly status, we can have no part in God’s topsy-turvy kingdom (Matthew 18:1–5).
"God gives the gift of faith disproportionately to the marginalized." — Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2008), 84
(HT: Of First Importance)
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