People said Jesus was a fool. Crowds came to hear his message of God's love. Sick people pressed on him to be healed. Teachers of the Law were shocked by his disrespect for their religious traditions. Mark's Gospel reports, "When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, 'He is insane.' The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He has Beelzebul.'
Paul is describing the conundrum that is his life: that there is a constant tension within himself when it comes to doing the right thing. He knows what the right choices are; he can wish to do them, he can tell them to his friends. But when it comes to doing the right thing, more often than not, he fails.
Christ is the center of our faith--the center of our Church. In Christ divisions between church bodies, races, backgrounds, educational levels, incomes, political affiliation, break down-or should. In Christ there is no north or south, no east or west. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. We are all one as we are one in the Lord--or should be.
If we didn’t know any better, we might think Paul had an identity problem – a complex, even. At the least there seems to be an inner conflict going on. “For I do not do what I want,” he confesses, “but I do the very thing I hate.” By the way, I heard of a preacher who once put that on his golf bag.
Appearances to the contrary, God will come to us again in human flesh and dwell among us. The hope that marks this special season is not generated by us. It is a gift from God. If we will open our hearts this season to receive it, appearances to the contrary, God will indeed dwell with us. That, I think, is worth hoping for. Do you agree?
The goal of religion is not to “perfect ourselves,” or to “get in touch with ourselves,” but to get beyond ourselves, in an effort to find something far greater than our own egos. Robert Stevenson understood this. He said, “In every corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be a gainer, to forget oneself is to be happy.”
We are where we are because of the grace of God. And God is faithful and will not stop blessing us. He will strengthen us to the end. So let us gracefully acknowledge the source of our gifts. Let us give God the glory and place our trust in him!
The Apostle Paul used cross training language to encourage the early Christians when he talked about, "running the race; going for the goal; reaching for the prize." In a very real sense, we are in training. As we train for the Cross and the Kingdom there are some attitudes and lifestyles which we should adopt.
You've been doing fifteen miles over the limit. You didn't notice, but the officer did. The sinking feeling you experience on this occasion is bad enough, but it's nothing compared to what Paul feels on the occasion of his conversion. A better name would be the Most Frightening Experience of His Life.
May God grant that we might say "yes" and "no" to the right things and at the right times. "No" to Satan and his seemingly innocent yet destructive ways and "Yes" to Jesus and the new life and the hope he offers us. To Jesus may our response always be a resounding "yes"!