The simplicity of the cross

1 Corinthians 1:18

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.

Modern philosophers have determined that the concept of right and wrong is a cultural construct, some standard made up to give one group power over another. They refuse to acknowledge that moral goodness is transcendent, existing outside of ourselves and applying to all people everywhere. Universities now teach that there is no spiritual part of us that determines behavior, so only what is material, what you see or touch, is real. Each person can decide what is right or wrong for themselves.

But, If there is no objective standard outside and above us, if everything in our universe only comes from what is material and there is no God, then how can you say that the thoughts generated by your brain are important? Christian writer C.S. Lewis said that if we are here only by accident, and the thoughts in our heads are just a result of chemicals that by random chance have come together inside the mushy space of our brains, then our thoughts are no more important or significant "than the sound of the wind in the trees."

If the modern philosophers have rejected God, how can anyone determine what is significant since that requires judging the value of something? To label a thing or a thought as better or worse, you have to have a standard by which you are comparing.

People today are certainly passionate about what they believe is right compared to what they hate or oppose. Anger over right and wrong is being blasted across the news media. So, where does the idea that something is good and something is evil come from? The world rejects God's standards, but the message of the cross, of the Gospel, is that God wants to "deliver us from evil," as Jesus prayed. God has given each of us a conscience to determine when we are wrong. The conscience is like the court room of the mind judging our thoughts and deeds.

The world thinks it's foolish to repent, but we cling to that Biblical truth because we know that the evil we can be saved from is definitely within us, our sin. The message of the cross may be foolish to everyone who refuses to believe, but it is life giving to us. Only through the death of Christ on the cross can we receive forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. Only through the cross can we have peace with God. Thank you Jesus for suffering to save us from our sin, our selfishness, our blindness. What the world cannot understand now becomes plain and simple.