Offense of the Cross

Listen to this blog.

As a follower of the Lord, I order you to stop living like stupid, godless people. Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right, and they are so greedy that they do all kinds of indecent things.

But that isn’t what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about him and learned about him. You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. Let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.

Ephesians 4:17-24

Years ago there was a song with lyrics that caused some soul searching.  "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"  Of course, that is a problem for every follower of Jesus.  We are tempted to live like the world, and we are tempted to tamper with the message of Jesus so the world will not be offended by the Cross! 

It is easy to be convicted of our own sin when we live like the world.  When our words, deeds and even thoughts join in with the sin around us the Holy Spirit brings conviction and draws us to repentance. 

But when we try to remove the offense of the Cross it becomes like a "zero" calorie food which also has no nutritional content.  When the Cross does not address the issues of your life with convicting power it is of no value indeed!

Our job is not to remove the offenses in Scripture to make the message more palatable.  We must simply proclaim the message, offensive parts and all, and let the Holy Spirit work on the hearts and minds of those who hear.

"Lord, may I provide the world around me with evidence that I belong to You today as I walk in Your will and repent of the ways I have walked with the world.  And may the offensive message of the Cross bring the Glorious Peace of knowing Jesus to men and women everywhere!  Amen"