Sunday, September 2, 2018

THE CROSS: Foolish to Some, Beauty & Genius to Those Who Will See

How great the love of God is!
While we here on earth
destroy his creation in a million ways--sometimes in big chunks,
sometimes little by little....
while we are
more interested in entertainment,
personal comforts
and pleasures
than in knowing and loving
the One who created us
and made it all possible....
he left the untouched majesty of heaven
with innumerable servants
doing his will and
singing his praise,
to become one of us
and to live in the midst
of the pain
we have caused....
more than that,
to die
an earth-blackening death
by which the suffering of the Eternal One
became the payment
for the sins of mortals
who enter into the New Covenant
by his blood.
A mystery in a mystery
in the mystery
of his all-surpassing love!

~~~~~

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"

Romans 5:6‭-‬10 NIV

~~~~~

There is some sense in which the Gospel itself is an apologetic. On the one hand, "it is foolishness to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18), yet on the other hand, there is a beauty and genius to it that surpasses every futile religious attempt in the entire history of humankind.