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
I stared at my brother-in-law as if he’d just announced he was an alien from another galaxy who'd evolved from insects and could temporarily morph into any form he wanted. He only appeared to be human.
He was crazy, a raving lunatic, I thought. Babbling on and on about Jesus and how he’d come to have a personal relationship with Jesus, and I could, too. The message of the cross was foolishness to me because I was in the process of perishing.
A personal relationship, my eye! I thought with contempt.
You’ve totally lost it, I thought. You’re a fool. People don’t have PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS with Jesus! It’s not like He’s HERE! Something like that just CAN’T happen!
The message of the cross was foolishness to me because I was in the process of perishing.
I don’t remember the exact year that conversation with my brother-in-law took place, but somewhere between 21 and 26 years elapsed before I finally stopped running from God as He so relentlessly, lovingly pursued me.
21 to 26 years of foolishness.
I can’t even wrap my mind around the awesomeness of it all.
Take it from one who went quite a way down that highway to hell. That smooth, broad, level-looking road with eye candy that makes the Vegas Strip look like a ghost town, drops by such small degrees that you don’t realize it’s going downhill.
Open your spiritual eyes before it’s too late. Leave the fool's gold, veer off the highway, through that narrow gate, and onto that narrow lane. The going can be tough, as there are potholes, bumps, and curves along the way. But it leads in the right direction.
Up.