Years ago, my husband moved to a new town to start a new job. Because I was in the middle of a Master of Education program at home, I didn’t move with him. One or the other of us would travel back and forth to see each other on weekends, but his colleagues questioned whether I truly existed or not. They didn’t know me. They had never met me. Some people are in the same position with God. I often have people tell me that God doesn’t exist, that He is just a crutch for people that can’t deal with life on their own. I, however, know that He exists, because I know Him. I will never be able to convince someone who doesn’t know Him though; that is something that only the Holy Spirit can do.
The Apostle Paul, in I Corinthians 1:18-31, gives the Corinthian believers a similar message. The people of that time also thought that the idea of God, and especially of Christ, the Messiah, hanging on the cross, was foolishness. The Jews expected, and demanded, miraculous signs, demonstrations of great power from their awaited Messiah, but they still would not believe. (Luke 16:31, John 12:37) Where was the power in Jesus hanging on the cross? It didn’t make any sense to them. The Greeks, were, and still are, known for their great intelligence and wisdom, but their human wisdom was not enough to understand the value of Christ’s crucifixion.
Paul’s audience, the Corinthians, were not noble, powerful, or privileged, and yet they had become believers because they had accepted the call of God. They knew God, because they chose to believe in Him by faith. God calls all of us, but there is absolutely nothing we can do through our own power or wisdom to earn salvation. All we can do is accept His gift. We may not completely understand God’s ways of doing things, but that doesn’t mean that our ways are better or that we are smarter. We can’t even begin to fathom the wisdom of God because it is so far above our own. Christ’s willingness to sacrifice Himself in such a humiliating way, for us, is all that we should boast about.
I think it was Marx who said "Religion is the opium of the masses". I guess a lot of people don't realize Christianity is a relationship with God and was not supposed to take on legalism and follow rigid rules. I have seen the Spirit change so many people I know, including a very confrontational co-worker I had. God is real!
Exactly Rowena! The evidence is all around if people are willing to look--in creation, in changed lives... everywhere.
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