Good morning,
Do
we have to be crazy to believe the Bible? Our present culture is doing
all it can to erase the leftover standards that have been a part of our
western civilization since the reformation began many centuries ago.
Our educational process is carefully designed to steer us away from
God’s guidelines and guide us into the “sensitive” approach of living
with people from different cultures and religious backgrounds. Those of
us who hold to the idea that the God of Creation knew what was best for
his creation, find ourselves labeled as trouble makers who are out of
our minds. There is nothing new about this issue. Paul had to face
these same charges when he was serving our Savior 2000 years ago. Paul
had to learn to see himself through God’s eyes and not the eyes of God’s
enemies. That meant that Paul had to learn another important lesson.
God taught him that in order to win the battles of life he had to lose
the battle for control. God hasn’t planted us here to become popular,
instead he longs for us to live like him and for him.
Whenever
the love of Christ is controlling us, we make very different choices
than when we are still living by the standards of the old life we used
to enjoy. Jesus died on the cross in order to make it possible for us
to be able to make the hard choices of life on earth based on God’s
power and not our own. As our Savior, he is delighted to arrange the
circumstances of our lives in such a way that what the world is taught
to think of as crazy is actually a life of freedom and usefulness. None
of us can live this way without being controlled by God’s Holy Spirit,
who is the same power source that gave power to Jesus’ life. Our Savior
longs for us to willingly decide that we are not here to live life for
ourselves. Jesus long for us to decide that we will depend on God’s
Holy Spirit to show us the needs of those around us and then live and
die like Jesus, doing what we are told. If the focus of our lives is
living for Jesus’ “Well done.” it doesn’t really matter what our enemies
have to say about us. The Judge of all mankind is always right!
II Corinthians 5:13
If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in
our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love
controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe
that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that
those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.
Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
Roy Wisner
