For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Back in October I came up with a great Christmas gift idea for a special friend - a photo/storybook about the weekend she'd spent at my house. I had compiled a number of pictures, had a good photo software program and easy access to an online photo site. It was going to be a breeze and shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to get the job done. I was ready to get to work.

The couple of hours turned into days, and the days turned into weeks as I changed this and tweaked that and critiqued every "creative" move I made. The more I did, the better it got. I began to congratulate myself; such a great job I was doing with the layout; those witty captions just flowed from my keyboard; and the pictures…wow…truly magnificent. Mentally, I patted myself on the back. Who knew I had such talent? I was a natural. It was a work of art; a masterpiece…my masterpiece. What an accomplishment. I felt good. I WAS good.

I began to brag it up to family and friends about this "fabulous book" I was making. Just wait until they saw the finished product. It was so impressive, they'd all want a copy. It was awesome. I was awesome.

After two months of time and effort, the book was nearly finished. I needed only to choose the cover page. And then the unthinkable happened. As I clicked on the cover choices, I neglected to SAVE the photo book and lost everything! All that time…all that work…my masterpiece…gone! Nothing left but my frustration and hugely deflated ego. I'd gotten so caught up in blustering about my own self-importance that at the crucial moment I ignored the first and probably most important computer lesson: always save your work.

Our own foolishness too often gets in the way of what is truly important. Everything we have comes from God, so if we are to boast, let us boast only of what the Lord has done; eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.