I keep a couple of acquaintances as Facebook friends because
they have extreme political views, and in a couple of cases they are total
opposites. Recently, my FB feed had one friend decrying giving a made-up sports
award that means nothing in the real world that I actually live in to Caitlyn
Jenner, and the very next post was from a friend who found it inspiring and
thought it was great. This is our world.
We don’t see eye-to-eye on anything these days. Given the
unlimited and intractable scope of the internet, and surely everything is up
for debate. Even more than that, people will go to battle it seems just to see
that their view on a subject “wins” in the court of public opinion.
Thank God for Jesus Christ. My favorite verse of scripture
comes from First Corinthians as Paul
writes:
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. It is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the
discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish
the wisdom of the world? Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know
God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation,
to save those who believe. “Jews” demand signs, “Greeks” desire wisdom, but we
proclaim Christ crucified, stumbling block to “Jews” and foolishness to “Gentiles,”
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
wisdom of God. God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness
is stronger than human strength.
1 Corinthians 1.18-25
In other words, God is more reliable than Facebook. Or
Twitter. Or Snapchat. Or whatever else has been developed since I wrote this
sentence. Way back when, long before smartphones, computers, or even electrical
circuitry, God thwarted the plans of the clever. It’s no different now. We just
seem to have more people who claim to be “clever.” God is still thwarting them.
You see, to believe in Jesus Christ is to believe that in
dying you live, in serving you love, and in laughing you conquer death. As our
lives get bombarded with sound bytes from one debater after another; as we
scramble to limit and filter the messages we receive, as well please remember
the gift you have received from God. That losing isn’t the end of the world,
that light shines in the darkest of rooms, and that you have more value to God
than you realize. The world may not seem to love you, but God does.
If you need proof of that love, just look at a cross.
Remember your baptism. Share holy communion with a stranger. That’s all the
wisdom you’ll ever need.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
