Friday, June 24,
2022
STRANGE!
Acts 17:17-20
17 Therefore disputed he [PAUL] in the synagogue
with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them
that met with him.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and
of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say?
other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods:
because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
19 And they took him, and brought him unto
Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest,
is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things
to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
The whole idea of
Christianity is strange to
the irreligious man or even to the hyper-religious man. It is strange to imagine
that all that we see was created by a God we cannot see. It is strange that this
God, who evidently has a son, would send that son to be a sacrifice for sin. It
is strange that God’s son, completely against nature, would be born of a
virgin.
It is strange that Jesus
would preach a
doctrine so completely foreign to all known philosophies that they would kill him
because of it. It is strange that after three days he came to life again and
walked around for forty days before disappearing into a cloud before witnesses.
Even more strange is that for thousands of years people from
every nation, language, culture, and economy would believe all these things.
Strange too is the fact that believers have gladly died for their belief.
Christian martyrs do not die with explosives strapped to their chest in one
final act of angry disgust. No, Christian martyrs die with a Bible in their
hand and a tear in their eye in one final act of love for infidels. Strange!
It is strange that the
Bible predicts a global path
of moral decline which leads to the end of the world. Stranger still is the
fact that the world persists in following that plan so closely that we can see
the end drawing closer.
If you think
Christianity is strange,
consider this. If, at the end of life, Christianity is wrong then we have only
forfeited our lives. If it is right, then you have forfeited your eternity.
1 Cor 2:14
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness [absurdity] unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Dear Lord! Thank you for revealing yourself to
us, giving yourself for us, and pursuing us relentlessly with love. AMEN
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