Thursday, May 17, 2007

Better Than Ripley's "Believe It Or Not!"

"Today's Devotion" For May 15, 2007

Read: Exodus 14:1-31; I Corinthians 1:18-31

BETTER THAN RIPLEY'S "BELIEVE IT OR NOT!"

"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." (I Corinthians 1:18)

One Sunday afternoon not long ago, nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother to share his Sunday school lesson from that morning. "Well, Mom," Joey replied, "Our teacher told us about how God had sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge upon which all the people escaped safely. Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. Bombers were sent to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved." Joey's mother was flabbergasted at this account. "Now, Joey," she responded, "is that really what your teacher taught you?" Joey responded, "Well, no, Mom. But if I told it the way my teacher told it, you'd never believe it!"

Little Joey's not alone, is he? A whole lot of people simply laugh at the "incongruity" of the Biblical accounts of God's actions on behalf of human beings. People are always trying to "fix" the Biblical accounts so they make more sense and fit into a schema more attuned to human thought and understanding. For centuries there have been those who have sought to discount the story of salvation in Scripture. There are those who purport to be able to tell what is truly God's truth and what isn't. Many have rejected the Bible out of hand simply because it doesn't conform to their personal schema of the secular and sacred. And many organizations, groups, and individuals (for instance "The Jesus Seminar") continue to work hard to discredit the truth and power of the Scriptures because they have their own opinions about what is holy, sacred, and God's will (usually based on how their desire to have God act in keeping with their personal preferences of what is good, moral, and right).

Lest we get too smug and self-important, there isn't one of us - even among God's redeemed children - who isn't guilty of trying to stuff God in a box of our choosing. Like little Joey, we are often overwhelmed by the incredible power of God and His total love for humanity. How often haven't we found it hard to believe that we don't have to do anything to receive God's forgiveness - that He took care of that for us in Christ Jesus? Throughout the Old Testament, we see the hand of God working to redeem His people, saving them not only from those who sought to destroy them, but also promising the ultimate redemption from Sin, death, and Satan in the Savior to come. The Children of Israel experienced that power so many times, not just in their deliverance from Pharaoh as they left their slavery in Egypt, but also numerous times throughout their history when their enemies sought to drive them from the face of the earth. And all too often, even though they had seen and heard God's deliverance, His power and promises were just too good to be believed.

That's the way it is with the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ. It seems just plain foolish to think that a god, much less "The One True God," would stoop so low and care so much for His lowly creatures on earth - human beings - that He would sacrifice His only-begotten Son on the Cross as payment for the sins of the world. The story of the Cross of Christ, the Plan of God's salvation through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus as payment in full for the sins of the world, taking upon Himself the full wrath of God in our place, has been probed and prodded, edited and abridged, time and time again to somehow make it more believable.

It's hard for human beings to believe that what God says is true - salvation is found in no one else than Jesus Christ and the Cross, an instrument for the cruel and inhuman punishment of evildoers and lawbreakers, is the instrument of redemption for the world. It's a story of God's power used in our behalf that would be even too unbelievable for "Ripley's Believe It Or Not." But, praise be to God, it is true. We are saved by faith in Christ. God's almighty power is found to be at work even in the lowly and intellectually unsound act of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. It may be unbelievable to many, but it is God's power for salvation to all who believe.

Prayer: Father, I'm so often faced with the incredulity of a world that just can't seem to understand nor believe that salvation from Sin, death, and Satan isn't just necessary, but impossible to accomplish on our own. I have to admit that my own sinful condition, when left unchecked by Your forgiveness and love, leads me into the same unbelieving trap as everyone else. I, too, find it hard to believe that there's nothing I can do to save myself and earn Your forgiveness and eternal life. Just like little Joey, I find it hard to understand or believe many things You tell me in Your Word. And, like the world around me, I want to reduce everything in Your Word to human logic so I can wrap my mind around it, rather than take You at Your Word and, by the power of Your Word and Spirit, believe Your promises in Jesus. Forgive me, Father, for such foolishness and strengthen my faith so that I may be a willing and living witness to the "folly of the Cross." Give me the strength of faith and purpose to share Jesus with others so they, too, might believe the "folly of the Cross," and be saved unto eternal life. In Christ's precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2007 by Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.

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