Foolishness?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

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.
(1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV))

What do you consider to be foolish?

Personally, I believe that anything can become foolishness if you let it. Cleanliness is good. Forgetting everything else in order to be completely sanitary is foolishness. Making a living is good. Forgetting everything else and working all the time is foolishness.

Now, the big question. Do you consider the Gospel to be foolishness?

At some point in our lives, I think that it is safe to say that many of us thought that way. I often find passages of Scripture that at first read seem to be foolishness, but then I remember that God’s ways are not our ways.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
(1 Corinthians 13:11-12 (NIV))

Think about that passage. When you were a child, your understanding of things was far different than that of an adult. In fact, you probably thought that some of the things that adults did were foolish. Now, I am one of those adults and I am doing things that I am sure my children think are foolish.

Can the cross be compared to this concept?

Just as we change in what we do in the physical world, our spiritual being also changes. Hopefully, it matures as our physical body matures. Hopefully, it sees the world from more than just a physical existence. Hopefully, it realizes that there is more to life than birth to death. Hopefully, it comes to the realization that foolishness is a matter of perspective and that with a change in perspective comes assurance of grace, mercy and hope through the message of the cross.

As for me, I do not think that grace, mercy, and hope are foolishness. What do you think?

Copyright 1998 – 2011 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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