“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
At the heart of Christianity is the cross of Jesus! When Paul thought of the one thing he would communicate in his preaching to the Corinthians — the one thing that mattered more than anything else he could say — he spoke to them about “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
That’s the one thing God wants you to grasp in your life most clearly, because the message of the cross sums up everything you must understand about God, man and life. The cross shows you the holiness of God the Father that could not maintain a relationship with his Son, when Jesus took the sin of the world on himself. It also magnifies the justice of God that couldn’t be satisfied any other way. And it reveals the immense grace of God that overcame all barriers to give you a way to be redeemed.
Can you identify the barriers in the way preventing you from living the life of Christ? Can you identify barriers that you may have erected that may prevent others from knowing Jesus? The gospel teaches us ways to build bridges not barriers or walls for others to know Jesus!
Prayer
Lord, help me remove the barriers that let me live my life fully in Your grace. Let me boldly grasp your Word and live as one saved by Christ, the Crucified! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Stay encouraged!
Pastor Mike
