“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
So many times, we all have suffered persecutions. We have all suffered unfairness and cruelty in this dying world. Even if we deny it or not, we hate suffering and we don’t like to suffer. This is the reason why we compromise. We compromise our morals, our principles, our happiness, our decisions and even our faith. We are very willing to compromise everything just so we can escape persecutions.
Now, as Christians, we also suffer different kinds of persecution. We are most of the time put into a hard place where we doubt God’s comfort and His power of deliverance. As people who believe in Christ, we are persecuted because of this faith. Even Jesus told His disciples that the world will really hate them, thus it hates us indeed. We are all disciples of Christ because we follow His footsteps and we are seeing Him as our teacher and as our main goal.
However, because we believe and follow Him, we will be hated by the world. Many will persecute us and many will try to take us away from our faith. So, in our verse today, Paul wants to remind and comfort us. He wants to remind us that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Now, the question is, since we are persecuted because of the Gospel we proclaim, are we the people perishing that Paul was referring to? — We are not, because even if we are persecuted, we know that we are saved through that knowledge and assurance we see the Gospel as the power of God.
We are persecuted but not perishing anymore because we are already saved. So, the people Paul was referring to are the people who have not known and seen the salvation of God that only comes from Jesus Christ. They are the people who are perishing because though they are enjoying their life here on earth, we all know that the wages of sin is death and that means that they will eventually suffer an unending death in hell.
Thus, this verse is not only a reminder but also a comfort to us. We have to always remember during our persecution that they are persecuting us not because our faith is misplaced or our faith is wrong, but because the world sees the Gospel only as foolishness. They don’t see it as the power of God, but only just a mere foolishness. So, we should not pity ourselves for being persecuted but instead let us pity those who have not known the Gospel because we know that they are the ones who are really truly perishing.
Therefore, we must understand the importance of evangelism. We must tell all the people about the love of God through Christ so that they may also see the Gospel as the power of God, not foolishness. Even if we will be persecuted and hated by the world or the people around us, it is still more important to spread the Word of God so that many will be saved. It is still more important to tell the people about how Jesus died on the cross and resurrected on the third day. It is still more important to proclaim the Gospel of God and bring as many souls as we can to the saving faith and grace of Christ. Even if we will be persecuted, let us not be selfish but we should instead share it to many people— the salvation we found in Christ.
Let us always remember to become good witnesses of Christ. May we not forget that our persecution and sufferings are only temporary and are nothing compared to the glory we will receive in Christ. We should always put in our mind that the world will indeed hate us but because we are serving the one and only true God, we will be comforted. Indeed that the Gospel is foolish to those who are perishing but to us who are saved, it is the power of God! Praise and glory belongs to God alone!
