Read: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18

I love the song that goes: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness…”

The power of God manifested through Christ by His death on the cross and His resurrection, is the center of our faith and hope, but to the world, it is utter nonsense.

What could there be that gives us more hope than the cross of Jesus Christ? When Jesus died He said, “It is finished!” Our reconciliation with God was completed in and through Christ. God’s ways are not the ways of man. God is not known or understood by reason as man knows it. A virgin birth? A resurrection? Of what use to the world was that? The Jews wanted a powerful warrior king to defeat the Romans, and the Greeks were fixated on wisdom. In their minds, Jesus fulfilled nothing. He was a failure. Today, mankind is no closer to seeing God’s plan. Too many of us seem determined to have it our way or no way. But God had/has a better plan: His Son Jesus Christ who came to bring us hope and eternal life. With our hope set firmly in Christ, we can move day by day in the confidence that Christ has our back. We live each day in the assurance that is grounded in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

O Lord, we give you thanks for your plan of salvation. Let us not forget the sacrifice made on our behalf. Help us this day and every day to give you thanks for the hope you shine into our lives and let us look for opportunities to share that hope with others who see it as foolishness. Amen.
-Susan Sanderson