Some will believe and some will be offended, by the Gospel of Christ. It is viewed as foolishness by the narrowly educated to believe that a man was born of a virgin, lived a faultless life, was crucified for the sins of man, and rose again so that we might have life eternal; washed of our sins by the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. Yet we live in a society that panders to whimsical fairies and magical men who travel the globe delivering presents to all good children. I can't honestly say that I have found a scientific explanation for the resurrection of Christ; it is by faith and faith alone, that I am saved by grace. But I have sought fervently, scientific proof for intelligent design; a maker not only of the heavens and earth, but of each molecule in my own being. I am perplexed by the rejection of intelligent design, when the more that I learn, the more happenstance seems statistically and logically less likely. Science is the language of God, a language with an alphabet that we have not yet entirely discovered. To think we presently have all of the answers is naive at best.
I hunger for knowledge and understanding and seek it daily. But it is in the moments, when childlike faith is allowed to blossom that I find an intimacy unknown to any other relationship I have ever had. When I stop, and listen, and comprehend the whispers of life written in the way the bird soars on the invisible breeze, the flower knows from seed how to grow and become captivating, or the way my heart is drawn to love; an incomprehensible emotion with no ends. He is teaching me daily and moment by moment, how firmly I am fixed on the rock of truth, unshaken by centuries of testing.
If the Gospel of Christ is an offense, I genuinely would ask to know why? Is it offensive to believe we are flawed by nature? Our flaws are evidenced everywhere; our broken economy, the existence of jail systems and drug abuse rehabilitation centers, cancer research and the need for medicine in general, the existence of hatred and war. The list could go on, but the fact remains, that if we were not flawed, every part of all of our lives would be in harmony. I have yet to meet an individual who can truly claim this. And if we are not truly in harmony, then there is a source of that disharmony; the Bible calls this source, sin. Sin permeates all of our lives and contributes to the chaos. Is it offensive or rational to admit a source for disharmony? I choose the latter.
The Gospel of Christ, is hope that sin does not need to bind us eternally, if we can only recognize it in our lives, confess our need, and ask for the gift of salvation given through the death and resurrection of the sinless lamb of God. Modern psychology confirms this, accepting our faults are real and need addressing is the first step on the road to recovery and healing. Jesus says, I know you have sinned, but I love you anyway and I want to help you be free of that which plagues you. I know you have done and thought vile things that you hide in the recesses of your heart, hoping that nobody will see. But I see those things, and they do not have to be your chains. I see them and I love you immensely, they do not diminish my love for you.
He teaches us boundless love. Love that does not subscribe to man's logic, but sets its own standards of measurement, in which the scales of love pour over our most wicked deeds, ceaselessly; an abundance unconstrained by our narrow minds that have to put perimeters around facts in order to make sense of them. We are forced by the limitations of our thinking to bind our thoughts to standards we ourselves created, it is how we can digest information and make sense of our world. But we fail to consider how vastly that limits our capacity to understand life holistically.
Unchain your mind from the patterns that have been set since birth, and allow yourself to wonder how the circle of life makes everything connected and yet unique; a masterpiece designed by utter brilliance that sees all and knows all.
Christ shed his innocent blood for all of mankind, and in doing so fulfilled ancient prophesies that promised a Savior, a King, an heir to the throne of God. We think that when tragedy occurs, that is the end, the battle is lost. But God says, "hold on, keep watching" and he takes the gruesomely shed blood of Christ and the wreckage of our lives, and he makes all things new again. He washes us white as snow, robed in majesty and a promise for a better day that is coming.
Happy Easter, dear friends!
