You're Invited...

I love the idea of the foolishness of the cross. In 1 Corinthians 1:21& 27-28, Paul writes, “Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe…God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.” I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we all go about our daily lives wearing massive crowns. These crowns are adorned with jewels for having straight-A’s or for making the varsity sports team. There are jewels you can get for having multiple cars and big houses. Jewels for being tall and skinny and beautiful. Jewels for having a high-paying job. Jewels for looking like you’ve got it all together. Sure, these crowns are sparkly and pretty, but you know, they can get really heavy sometimes. If you take time to think about it, these crowns aren’t symbols of status- they are just burdens. Every day when we get dressed, we put on our crowns, and go about our onerous task of making it look like we have the world. In the Coldplay song, “Viva la Vida,” there is a line about castles being built upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand. So here we are, wearing these crowns that are too heavy for us to wear, building realms on foundations of salt and sand, with our eyes set on becoming kings and queens of kingdoms that don’t truly matter.

Meditate on the Christmas message. You’ll realize something quite odd: God uses those who don’t wear worldly crowns. We see the foolishness of the cross in the fact that the King of Kings was born in a manger, and died wearing a crown of thorns! In one of my favorite Christmas songs, “O Holy Night,” there is a line that says, "Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth." Again, we see the foolishness of the cross in how the soul finds its worth: upon the entrance of Christ into the world- not from decking out our crowns in as many jewels as possible. In Romans 12:2, we are commanded, “do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We are called to take a foolish message and wholeheartedly proclaim it as the TRUTH. We are called to stop finding our worth in being the rulers of worldly kingdoms. We are called to find our worth not in conforming to the patterns of this world and wearing our weighty crowns, but in fulfilling our purpose as worshipers of Jesus Christ.

Christmas time offers us a special invitation. You are invited to come and adore him. How will you RSVP? Will you take off your crown, fall on your knees, and let the baby sleeping in the manger take his rightful place as King?