“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.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

This verse was just what I needed to hear. In the Middle East, where we lived for many years, as well as back in America, I have found myself trying to make the gospel more acceptable, more respectable, more comfortable for people to accept—but to no avail.

To those who do not believe, the pure gospel can never be attractive or easy to accept, for it is foreign, unnatural, even repulsive. To think of themselves as so sinful that they need a Savior, to think of God Himself dying on a cross in their place, to think of surrender to Him and having a total change of life as a result—this is more than they want to hear! And we experienced this directly this week. We went an invited  about 20 of our neighbors to a Discovery Bible study—but no one came!

Facing this truth of man’s natural rejection of the gospel throws me back to dependence on God, on the Holy Spirit’s work, thereby saving me from dependence on myself—I cannot convince anyone to believe, only God can do that. It also frees me to go ahead and share without being controlled by fear of rejection.

As the King’s heralds, we will be rejected by many listeners, but that must not stop our proclamation of Truth, unpalatable as it may be to unbelievers. “God has chosen the foolish things…the weak things…the base…the despised…the things which are counted as nothing…that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1Cor. 1:27-29).

So, we are sharing, sowing seed and looking for those whom God has prepared for the next step in their spiritual journey. What freedom there is in knowing that we are joining Him in His reaching out to the world. To be committed to the Lord of the universe, seeking to cooperate with Him in what He is doing, knowing that He will guide and lead us to those He’s already working in—these are wonderful privileges and fear-killing truths. We can trust the One who said His Spirit is at work convicting all of sin, righteousness and judgment. He will bring forth fruit at the right time as we faithfully follow Him.