Wednesday Thought – November 9, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 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. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’” (1 Corinthians 1:17-19)

For thousands of years man has been on a futile journey to find the solutions to the problems of our world. We’ve tried human reason, but the problems of the world are beyond our ability to solve with human reason. We’ve walked down the path of what we called “moral freedom,” but found at the end of that path just continued emptiness. Military might hasn’t solved the problems, it’s just opened the way for more and more powerful tyrants. There used to be hope in psychotherapy, but the more therapy that became available the more problems we’ve uncovered and been unable to cure. Technology seemed to provide possibilities, but it has failed just as miserably as every other path we’ve tried. Political solutions have been equally ineffective. And there are a thousand other paths that have been tried and a thousand other dead ends and incomplete answers.

The place where the answers lie is the one place the people of our world don’t want to look. In Paul’s day, Christ and His cross were a “stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) They still are in our day, too, not just to Jews and Greeks, but to every nationality of men and women. We’re too sophisticated and intelligent to think that the answers to man’s problems could be found in something so old and so counter to man’s own independence and abilities.

Yet, Christ is the answer that Paul gave. The message of God and the experience of man confirm that He is the only real answer available. A life lived in dependence upon and obedience to Him seems foolish to most, but it’s the power of salvation for those who will trust Him.

His, by Grace, Steve