Coming the day after what-we-call “April Fool’s Day” here in the US, I was reminded of this quote by Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliot was a missionary martyred by the Auca Indians of Ecuador. His quote is a perpetual reminder of the cost (and privilege) of discipleship. But his quote also reminds us that any Bible-believing, fundamental believer will be considered foolish by the world. “We are fools for Christ's sake… we are weak… we are despised (1 Cor. 4:10)… 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… (1 Cor. 1:18).
I am afraid that the further our culture (and even mainline denominations) declines into amorality and universalism, the more foolish Bible-believing Christians will appear. It is time for us to ask ourselves, 'are we willing to be fools for Christ?'
Greg,
ReplyDeleteApparently, when Christians choose to have a center other than themselves to relate everything to--a center that turns out to be God Himself--we look like fools to the world.
...their loss.
Stan
Good afternoon Greg,
ReplyDeleteYes, and it is with the foolishness of preaching, that God uses to explain the truth so that people might be saved. Preaching, not modern music, nor interpretive dance, nor dramas. This is not to knock the work of the church growth specialists in the last 3 or 4 decades. Their work has been useful for some churches in keeping the stumbling block the cross of Christ, rather than hymn music that is not appreciated by those unfamiliar with the theology and life experience embedded in the lyrics.
Pursuit of Christ does not mean checking our brain and our intellectual pursuit at the door. On the contrary, it means pursuing with greater passion, much like a reader pursues wanting to understand the author's biography so as to better understand what has been written. Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. God is the fount of truth, because God is truth. Pursuing truth in any discipline, rightly done, leads the person to God.
We are fools in the world's perspective, but in God's perspective, it is the fool who has said in his heart that there is no God.
Godspeed!
Larry Q