1 Corinthians 1:18

                If you have ever preached it to someone who just looks at you like you're crazy, you may wonder why they don't get it when it makes so much sense. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." In essence, to those who have the Holy Spirit within them, the Gospel makes sense; but to those who do not have the Holy Spirit within them, the Gospel sounds stupid. Now, why would this be? There are two reasons to this. 1) God is too big, and 2) man is too small.

                 We see in 1 Corinthians 1:19, God says "'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.'" We see that God, by whatever action He is going to do, will trump the world's wisdom and the world's idea of intelligent. In order to do that, God has to be wiser and smarter than man, which He is. 1 Corinthians 1:25 says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." Basically, when God isn't even trying, He is greater than all of humanity's best. How can one understand the Gospel from THAT God? The Gospel is too big for man's understanding. That is why it sounds like foolishness to man.

                We see in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23 it says, "Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greek..." We see that man wants to seek out God in their own way, Jews by works like signs, and Greeks by impressive words that sound like wisdom. When Christ is preached, both can't comprehend. To the Jews, the Gospel involved no sacrifices and no rituals, so they stumble and cannot understand how the relationship with Christ by grace through faith works. To the Greeks (anyone who isn't Jewish), the Gospel does not sound wise, so they count it as foolish. It would be like explaining thermodynamics to a three year old. They would think that you are crazy or weird. It is so beyond their comprehension that they think it sounds foolish.

                We have to realize that we were one of these categories before Christ, or maybe we still are. Either we tried to seek God out and do works to find Him and never did, or we didn't understand the Gospel and got prideful, calling God's wisdom foolish. We need to remember that God is too big for our little understanding. He is God. He made all things.

                So, you may be asking, how do I explain the Gospel to my friends if they won't be able to understand, or how do I understand the Gospel if it is too big for me? 1 Corinthians 1:24 says, "But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." We cannot understand the Gospel except through the Holy Spirit, given to us by Christ's crucifixion. All that we can do is pray that God helps us to understand it, preach it to others, and let God do the work. We can't do anything. It is all in God's hands.


                                                                                                                                         -D

1 John 4:19

                 When Jesus healed the blind man, the man was willing to follow Jesus. In fact, when the man found Jesus again, and Jesus told him who He was, John 9:38 says, "Then the man said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped Him." Let me ask you this: Does your life show your love for Christ?

                1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." We show love, show generosity, show grace, show forgiveness, show kindness because Christ first showed it to us. When you think of what Christ has done for you, all of the situations that He has saved you from and all of the sins that He has forgiven you of, does your life reflect the love that you have for Him?

                Now, I am not saying feel guilty as if you need to pay Him back. Who can pay back God? Everything you own is His to begin with. You can't out give the ultimate giver. I'm saying do you love Him. Looking at the blind man, when he was being questioned, he was willing to defend Christ's miracles and all that He had done for him. Why? Because they were signs of God's love for Him and He was excited, if not overjoyed, to share them with others.

                Look at your own life. Do you love in a way that shows that you appreciate God's love for you? Do you love in a way that is like Christ? Do you love in a way that says that Christ first loved you? 1 John 4:20 says, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."

                Do you show Christ's love? Do you live a life according to 1 John 4:19, or do you need to talk with God and see how much you value His love for you?

                 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35


                                                                                                                                         -D

Living Service

                "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1

                So often, we as Christians can say that we would die for Christ or we would loose it all for Christ. We can be so willing to do one big final act for Christ, but what about taking out the trash without grumbling, or spending time with someone who gets on your nerves and treating them with love? God has been calling you to live for Him before He has called you to die for Him. He has called you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice.

                We are so willing to take up our cross and die one final and honorable God glorifying death, but what about taking up our cross daily? What about fighting against the lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life? Praise God if you are willing to die for Christ's glory, but also be willing to live for His kingdom as well.

                What could you do to grow in Christ, or to live for Him? What is keeping you from living out your whole life for Christ? Look at your life through the mercy that Christ has shown you (dying on the cross for you while you were yet in your sins and loving you even as you were rebelling against Him) and ask yourself if living your life for Christ is worth it. Doesn't He deserve your total worship, your full life? He gave His best, why wouldn't we give our best back?


                                                                                                                                         -D