Remembering the Cross, 1 Corinthians 1:17

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel-- not with words of human widsdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."

     When we go out and share the gospel with others, are we speaking merely from our own head-knowledge, or are we acting and speaking in the strength of the Holy Spirit? The message of the cross indeed contains power, for it is the power of God to save a man's soul from hell. Yet if we deny its power and instead rely upon our own tact and our own wisdom, we are bound to fall.
     It is easy to fall into the deception that those around us will assume the message of the cross is foolishness. And indeed, to those who are perishing it is foolishness. But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. But since we cannot possibly know which are going to reject the truth and which are going to be saved, it is a foolish assumption to think that no one will listen to the message.
     When we get caught up in the mentality that everyone we talk to will reject the gospel message, it is easy for us to subconsciously empty the cross of its saving power. We forget that it is not just our religious duty to proclaim the truth, and we don't seem to congnicent of the fact that it is the truth, reality. And far more than that, it is a life line to those who are drowning and perishing in sin. Apart from the grace and forgiveness of God, each and every person is doomed to live for eternity in hell, alone, in pain and agony. I'm sure that none of us wants anyone to suffer this fate, yet we so easily forget that which the gospel, the cross, is to us: salvation from hell.