Matins Devotion: August 8, 2023
When the Christian faith began to spread into the gentile world, it was not held in great esteem amongst the Romans and Greeks. And for obvious reasons. The earliest converts were largely women and slaves, those considered to be virtually sub-human and unworthy of intellectual respect in those cultures. Why would any self-respecting man join such a movement? Why would those who had unlocked the mysteries of the universe with their wisdom and understanding and learning lower themselves to stand beside slaves and women who, in their minds, were incapable of ascending to such heights? Why would the wise join the cult of fools?
Why? Because, of course, it’s true. Because Christ is risen, revealing Himself to be the Son of God who died for all mankind’s sins and who rose to make us all worthy in the eyes of His Father. Christ died and rose that we might rest in His Father’s arms forever. And those arms are big enough to hold us all. But there is no room in those arms for the prideful, for those who think they have climbed into the arms of salvation through their wisdom and knowledge.
So if you want to live forever, then you must despair of your worldly wisdom and embrace the foolishness of the cross. If you are wise and want to live forever, you must be willing to live forever beside the lowly, the poor, the illiterate, and uneducated. Or, if you are lowly, poor, illiterate, and uneducated, you must be willing to live forever beside the high-born, the rich, the sophisticated, and educated. Anyone who clings to Christ in faith is your brother, even if you look and sound nothing alike. Anyone who has been clothed in the glorious wisdom of God that looks like foolishness to the world belongs beside you forever. So if you wish to live forever, then you’d best get comfortable worshiping, weeping, and rejoicing with those fellow believers who have nothing in common with you but the blood of Jesus.