Turnaround

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…

Are you like me?  Do you ever hear phrases in movies or made by politicians, actors, scientists or other famous people in which there is a tone of derision at Christians?  

It is often a very condescending tone, as if acknowledging that Christians are all a bunch of dolts, and everyone else is enlightened, like the speaker.

It also always strikes me that the more I hear such comments, the more it is clear those speaking have no accurate idea of what Christianity or church life is actually about.   Instead, they speak out of ignorance and a kind of bigotry, which is very interesting since those are the very things they accuse us of!  

I don’t remember what brought it up the other day, but when I hear one more person spouting off in this pretentious way, it occurred to me that this is really not anything new, despite what we might think.  Acts 17 recounts the story of a time when Paul experienced the very same kind of thing in his interactions with the “wise philosophers” of his time.  (If these things resonate with you and you haven’t read that story lately, you might want to take a few minutes to read it…the parallels to today’s world are amazing.  It’s like that old saying, “the more things change, the more things stay the same.”

During hard times, and times when you feel like God isn’t answering as quickly as you would like, or even answering at all, it can be very tempting to fall under the influence of those who would tell you that it just isn’t worth it.  Many an individual has turned his back on God, and on the church, during stressful times such as the process of divorce, in times of grief, when everyone else seems to be more successful, or during extreme financial stress and job loss.  But to do so is a mistake.  It is falling for arguments that have the appearance of wisdom, but eventually ring hollow and vain.  

Paul addresses this topic most clearly in 1 Corinthians 1:

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ 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? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.   –1 Corinthians 1:18-29  NASB

Don’t ever let yourself fall for those arguments that sound so wise, but run counter to the Word of God. They may appear wise, and in this day and age, may be the “politically correct” way to approach things, but they are far from ultimate truth and eternal significance that can only be found in Christ Jesus, crucified for our sins, raised to give us eternal life.  

If you are in a time of extreme stress, the answers you truly need can only be found in pursuing God, not in turning away from Him to something less…and everything is less than God!