The Foolishness of this World

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent,” 1 Corinthians 1:18-19, KJV.

On yesterday, I encountered someone who stated that they were an agnostic: someone who is doubtful or noncommittal about something. She stated that she does not believe or disbelieve about God. My heart went out to her, people like this cause me to go into prayer. As I spoke about Jesus, it looked as if she wanted to take off and sprint in the opposite direction. This is the same woman who purposely stayed in the company of a conversation I was having with another believer regarding how she spent her Easter day last week.

In retrospect, I now know that it was something that interested her. There was something that she did want to know, but sometimes people have lived their lives a certain way for so long that they feel it’s either too late to change or too shameful to admit that they’ve been wrong for so many years. When I looked into this woman’s eyes who appeared to be about fifty plus years old or so, her countenance told me that she really didn’t want to be bothered. But why was she sticking around until I finished a conversation she had barely contributed to with someone else.

As we walked along before splitting into opposite directions, I shared with her my experience with God and the authenticity of supernatural happenings. I asked if she had read the Bible and she unconvincingly nodded. “And there was no conviction?” I asked. She stated that she does not believe in blind faith. I stopped in my tracks and compassionately said, “Jesus is real.” She seemed to almost be grinning and nodded in a condescending way. I realized that I was dealing with a person who may have been hurt at one time or just flat out didn’t want to believe. I shared with her that if she wants to believe all she has to do is ask God. Her eyes said to me that is not going to happen before she walked away.

I went into prayer for this woman clearly understanding that ignorance has no age. She was not stupid and could very well articulate her feelings, but the understanding of what she was saying made no sense. “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,” 1 Corinthians 1:20-21, KJV.

Not everyone is going to accept the Gospel of Christ, but we must still pray for them and plant those seeds. True, it may be discarded, but we will have done our part (Mark 4:4-8). The wheat grows up with the tares and we don’t know if these people will one day change. I pray so.