Day 3136 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

We live in a world that never grew up past sticks and stones breaking bones as down here words are still said to hurt.

But above all the mockery and belittlement bestowed upon those living a life of faith alongside a majority who aren't, turns out the joke is on them. Because as it just so happens, all those little demeaning designations have become somewhat the proverbial badge of honor for those who have so little interest in fitting in with the world around them that they actually seek to be as different from the downfall as possible.

Yes, words may hurt a society still softened by socialized successes and standardized messes, but to us who've welcomed the fire as a means to refine us into something useful for a kingdom greater than all this world can ever accomplish, they only mean we're doing something right.

And well, it's just nice to have that validation by whatever means it may come.

Halfwit. Idiot. Imbecile. Ignoramus. Blockhead. Buffon. Moron. Simpleton. Failure. Freak. Fool. All are welcome identifiers as they're only given unto outsiders who walk a different line from the many living outside of God's love for them. They're evidence that we no longer dance to the tune of a sad song written by hearts half-alive and quickly fading. They're titles in which we find cause to boast, though we don't need reason to.

No, if this world thinks we're foolish losers for believing in something, well that's about the kindest thing one could expect from a world so dark and damp that they don't even desire life beyond the one they’re guaranteed will end.

That's what's so confusing to me. This world thinks we're nuts for believing in Christ, but they don't see a problem in their inability to believe in anything beyond themselves. How hollow and sad and superficial must that way of life be? To assume the best possible outcome is only the fulfillment of a person's own ideas and dreams and goals and the perfectly followed paths they themselves paved to what they could only assume was good enough.

Do folks not see the danger in that kind of assumption? Sure, our opinion of what’s good enough is fine, but considering it can never possibly take into consideration every possible opportunity as we don’t know what tomorrow holds, well then how can we know for certain that something else wouldn’t turn out even better than we could imagine?

Everyone is living this idea that they know everything, and therefore, that everything they don’t know or don’t understand is just immediately stupid. Not because it is because they can’t prove it is, but simply because it would risk their complacent opinion that has them convinced they know everything they need to know to make certain their lives are the best they can be.

But all most people know is their immediate surroundings. They know only the opinions gleaned from those around them. They only understand the way of life they’re planted within. Farmers think that being a farmer is the best thing a person can be. A banker would argue. A doctor thinks both of them are wrong. And a homeless guy would think they’ve all got it made.

It's all this blanket arrogance that has always had all of humanity convinced that they’re perspective of humanity is as good as it gets. We know everything. We can see everything. We understand everything, yes, even the things we don't know. We're convinced we're ready for the future even though we've never been there. We're certain that we can handle every single problem that we can't bring ourselves to admit will inevitably arise.

So lost that we've lost the ability to see without our eyes.

That's the horrid truth of humanity. We're already dying. We're already perishing. We're already losing everything because we've lost the ability to believe in anything. Everyone demands evidence, but even the most indisputable fact is ignored if it doesn't fit their pre-conceived opinion. No matter what you say, what you do, what you try, someone somewhere will think you're an idiot.

So why not believe in something so filled with hope that you no longer care what anyone else thinks?

See, that's the path the faithful follow. It's so real, this hope that's found us when we were but hopeless that speaks a certainty into the unknowns we know we don't know. That's what faith is, it's the substance of things hoped for. It's the assurance of things unseen. It's a confidence in knowing that we don't know everything, but that because we can consider that there are things we don't know, well then we've no reason not to believe they're at least possible.

Why go through the over complication of always having to find a way to remain convinced we’re right through things like denial, remaining oblivious, preferring lies and deception, even avoiding reality all so that our own version still seems reasonable? Why go through life fighting against everyone who lives, breathes, thinks or believes differently than you do? Doesn’t that kind of show that you’re not all that sure? Because if you were, you wouldn’t need everyone else to justify it all the time.

See, life's simpler on this side of the cross, because most think it foolish and therefore us foolish for following the message of it. But there's less to figure out, worry about. In fact, there's a plethora of external information and input that helps us discern what to do, where to go, what path to take and what to do along the walking of it. In an ironic turning of the tables, the world is filled with priceless information which helps us fools grow in our faith.

How? How can this faithless world help those who are living by faith? How can the downfall of a society falling down help define the line we're called to walk considering we're called to walk away from the way the world is going? Easy, just don’t do what the world does and do what the world don’t.

Speak the truth that the masses won't. Serve with a kindness this place doesn't understand. Go right as they go left, up instead following them down. Just do everything the opposite of that which this world thinks is right and reasonable.

Because since they've no awareness, apparently, of God's goodness nor the truth by which He calls us, well then they've no basis for having any viable idea as to what's right or wrong, truth or deception, worthy or worthless.

Yet in their self-perceived vast wealth of wisdom, they consider our faith foolishness as they wallow in all that's already sparked their premature and permanent perishing. Yes, we live in a world that’s dying and yet the majority of folks are living it up before their time runs out. And that’s among the greatest tragedies that I can imagine. The world lives as if they’re running out of time to enjoy themselves.

As for us freaks, our enjoyment of life has only just begun and we’ve still got forever still to go!

You know sometimes I think back to the life I once knew in that mindset set on only hoping in that which was already proven assuming I had too little time to consider anything else. It would seem that at the time I had reason to follow that path. There must have been something to gain in heading along after the world via the ways in which they teach us to live. There had to have been some kind of outcome that kept me coming back to everything but my senses.

But for the life of me, I can't possibly seem to figure out what it would have been.

No, I think about that outlook now and I can't find words to encompass the emptiness of it. This idea that our greatest hope hinges upon our own imperfect ability to perfect it. That my life is merely the measure of my own intellect or ingenuity. That the best possible outcome for my entire existence is a handful of years indulging in whatever I happen to find pleasing at the moment before I end up running out of moments to fill with more passing pleasure as I pass on.

And yet, considering all of those are apparent outlooks shared by the majority of people down here, don't they see that they too are living by faith? It's not in Jesus. Not in the cross. Not in the Gospel which brings a truth we don't have to come up with. Not in the hope of eternal life. But they're living by faith in themselves or their friends or their jobs or their ideas or their ideals or their desires not starting more fires like those still smoldering of the past preferences that failed to fulfill.

But we're the crazy ones because we believe in Jesus. Don't think it's that. Don't think they look at us strange because we adhere to the truth instead of the lies everyone else is out here making up as they go along so they can go along not thinking they're doing anything wrong. I think that's the problem, and that's why they think we're fools.

Because we admit it.

We admit that we're not perfect. We admit that we've made mistakes. We readily agree that we've said things, done things, seen things and been things that shouldn't have been. Yes, we accept the reality of sin, which is something this world can't comprehend as sin is what they're living in. But unlike us, they're happy there.

Truth be told, at one time we were too. Like I said, sometimes I look back at the life I once lived and see nothing now but a string of stupidity only allowed because I thought I knew something. That's the root of every human mistake in my opinion. It's that we think we know something, that we know something well enough to not possibly get it wrong.

Because that arrogance invites a lack of foresight that leaves us wide open to making mistakes we'd never let ourselves consider could be possible. Again, we only see what we can see, and as long as it measures up to our expectations built on our desires, then it's good enough. Just run headlong into that decision assuming nothing can go wrong because you don't want anything to go wrong.

But we're wrong, apparently.

No, the only reason this world thinks we're wrong is because what we have is had only by the power of God. He chooses whose eyes open and who stays blinded. He decides who understands His truth and who denies it. He knows those who are His, and so He knows that most don't want to be. And He knows that most don't want to be because all they want to be is their own god.

And that's why we're the weird ones. Because we've been there, we've done that, we've believed that and we've lost everything because of that. We've followed that outlook all the way to the hopelessly hollow outcome it inevitably leads to. And because we've been broken and are no longer blind to it, we've sought solace in the Savior who came to heal what we admit we've harmed.

That's why the words don't hurt anymore. The judgements don't matter to us now. The hatred thrown our way just goes out the window because we've lived a life hating ourselves. We've hurt ourselves in all those years living only to please ourselves with only that which leaves scars that never heal fully on this side of forever. We've lost the very ability to hope, and that hope came for us only after we stopped believing in it is all the evidence we need.

That cross will one day testify against every life lived with the knowledge of it. We either believe or we don't. We surrender or we won't. We follow His path or pave our own hoping it leads to everything we want. That's literally the only two options we have. His way or our own.

I've heard this saying over the years that says if I am wrong about Jesus then I've wasted my life but that if the world is wrong about Jesus, they've wasted their eternity. And while I get the gist, I find myself sort of on the fence. Because yes, this world thinks I'm wasting my life by not indulging in all the passing pleasures I could be filling my remaining years with.

But that's not a waste to me. It's not a waste to believe in something so strongly that I welcome death just so I can finally find out the fullness of it. It's not a waste to follow a path that's teaching me humility and compassion and hope all in measures I couldn't understand otherwise. It's not a waste to look up toward the sky and wonder about the beauty that we haven't seen. It's not waste to hope.

It's a waste not to.

So sure, there will be some, likely many, who think I'm a fool for living by faith. They'll contest that I'm wasting my life by not filling it with what theirs are filled with. They'll argue that I'm missing out by not being included in their raucous parties and lavish lifestyles. But I know I'm not missing a thing.

Why? How? How could I be so sure I'm not missing out on anything by walking away from a world that seems in all ways to have everything everyone else wants and needs?

Because I can honestly say that there's nothing this world can give me that would be of any possible worth in comparison to this hope I've found in the hope that He's found me. There's nothing this world can call me that could convince me that I'm wrong, because I've my past and so I know what wrong is. There is no threat, no punishment, no pain that could make me agree that the best possible outcome of this life is to live it only inside this place that I know we're all leaving behind in this time that I know is running thin.

So call me a fool, I really don't care. In fact, again, I appreciate it. Because for this wicked world to say I'm weird, that I'm wrong, man that just helps me know more fully that I'm not.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold