DCLM Daily Manna 20 July 2026: Transforming Grace
KEY VERSE “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Corinthians 1:26).
Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (KJV)
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
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In his book Understanding Church Growth, The Christian writer, Donald McGavran, used the phrase “redemption lift” to describe the transformative power of the gospel on people’s lives, especially their socioeconomic condition. A more recent work by Rodney Stark, titled, America’s Blessings, relying on sociological data, concluded that compared to less religious and nonreligious individuals, people of faith are better off. He believes that a person renewed by the gospel increasingly acts in a self-controlled and selfless manner, engages in less criminal behaviour and experiences higher marital happiness and lower divorce rates, while producing more and better-behaved children.
In today’s Bible passage, Apostle Paul believes that the gospel of Christ has positively transformed the lives of the Corinthian Christians. This is because God did not consider the smallness or stature of the Corinthian believers before saving them from the power of sin. Paul reminds the Corinthians of their humble beginning in the journey of faith and how God’s transforming grace turned their lives around. God can make giants of anyone no matter his or her poor beginning.
Paul believes that God usually does not apply worldly methods to spiritual things. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). The Bible is full of stories of people like the shepherd boy, David, who was brought from obscurity to the throne. Who would have imagined that a man like Zacchaeus would voluntarily surrender his loot to repair the financial damage done to many families? God transforms sinners to saints effortlessly so that no one will claim any credit for the changes in their lives.
The Christian life is a new life where old things do not dictate our progress any more. This is a new life where redemption transforms us from weaklings to giants. The blessedness of knowing Jesus as Lord and Saviour transcends every limitation there might be in our lives, making us into spiritual giants who can effortlessly, gratefully sing, “Amazing Grace”!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The amazing thing about grace is that it admits and transforms the weak, the wordly and the wicked
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Exodus 12-16
DCLM Daily Manna 20 July 2026
