#DailyDevotion Natural Man Simply Does Not Understand God

Lent Day 16

1 Corinthians 1:18 The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Well it doesn’t take long in talking with people about Jesus and his sacrifice before those who are perishing, those who do not belong to the Lord express how the cross of Christ is folly. The big objection these days tends to be along the lines of “I can’t believe in a God that would sacrifice his own son. That is a cruel God.” I can relate to that on a number of levels. But ultimately, this line of reasoning comes down to not believing what God says about sin, the effects of sin, and what their sins deserve.  They just don’t think they’re really all that bad that such a solution to sin is necessary.

Now the other problem related to the above is people believe that they are good enough to have a good afterlife or it is our virtue and good works that determine where you end up post mortum. Salvation, a good afterlife, is simply based on good works and having more of them than bad ones on the scales of judgment at the end of life.  Everyone thinks they have more than enough good works. Everyone thinks that they are not bad enough to end up in perdition for eternity.

But the truth is, simply worshipping and trusting gods, persons, things and philosophies other than the One, True, Living God as witnessed to in the Old and New Testaments is bad enough to enter into perdition. He’s the only God that actually exists. If you didn’t want to be with him in this life, he’s not going to make to be with him in the next. Besides idol worship, the fact is all our other faults, mistakes, also known as sins in thought, word and deed are worthy of death, eternal death. Just one. It doesn’t matter how big you think it is. It’s the size of God whom you have sinned against. And you just can’t make it even. You confess your sin. You return the money you stole for example. However, you weren’t supposed to steal in the first place. Nothing you do can erase that. You were supposed to be good in the first place. There is an eternal consequence to sin.

The cross of Christ though proposes a solution to our sin problem. On the cross Jesus does erase our sin. The cross pays the ransom that no one else could ever pay. The cross of Jesus is our propitiation and expiation of sin. God the Father no longer counts our sins against us on the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus paid an eternal debt that our sin and all our sins deserve. It’s horrific and wonderful at the same time. Horrific to think that is what any sin we have committed deserves that. Wonderful to know we have a God who does not want to send us to hell for all eternity and provides himself a means by which we may escape it. On top of that, the cross is the power of God in our lives. It not only declares us righteous but it also begins to make us righteous. The cross of Christ begins in our lives, in those that believe what Christ has done for them, to conform us to his own divine image. It changes our hearts, minds, thoughts, affections and desires. It renews us from the inside out. It gives us true knowledge of God and God’s wisdom. Such is the power of the cross of Christ to them who believe.

Heavenly Father, we do not always understand your plan or how things actually work; so we think it is foolish. Grant us such faith through the power of cross to glorify Jesus’ work on the cross for our salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.