For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

What could possibly seem foolish about it?

“You see, there’s this All-Powerful Being who has full control over all space and time and matter and life–you know, ‘cause he made ‘em.   So, anyways, this God had everything just perfect, and then he made people, but he gave people the power to choose whether they would believe in him or not and whether they would follow his pretty simple rules or not.  He also gave them the spark of individuality, because he didn’t want automatons but interesting souls that he might call friends.  Well, you know, people chose not to follow him, because we have an Enemy who stoked people’s egos and gave them the idea that they could do a better job of running things than the One who made them. So we walked away from God–ran actually–and broke pretty much all his rules and messed things up so badly that we couldn’t have loved him properly even if we had wanted to.  God knew that there was only one way to fix this.  All the bad choices and evil things we had done would have to be washed away so that there could be a relationship between us.  Which, really, was what God wanted more than just about anything.  Of course, this would take a level of punishment that we could never endure, so God sent his Son–closer, more beloved, more part of himself that we can ever hope to understand–and let him take that punishment on our behalf.  The most powerful being ever chose to lay all his glory aside and become a man.  Then he chose to allow other men to hate him and torture him and nail him to a piece of wood and leave him to die in utter loneliness. He did all that to clear the slate, so that we could come back to God.  Then he broke Death itself into a million pieces by rising from the grave.  So, now we can have fellowship with God, and we are called to model our lives after His. We are his Beloved, and we will live forever with the One who loved us enough to die for us.  And live for us.”

The World calls you a fool for believing this.

Let ‘em.

Happy Friday, Beloved.