The Supremacy of Christ

God's grace, mercy and love has no equivalent in this world.  All this world can offer are lesser, cheaper substitutes that may have a similar appearance but lack the good motivation God always has.  It struck me today that world aims low (compared to God) and preaches "tolerance" as ethical when Jesus preached and lived according to God's love.  The world is fine when we tolerate people who are different from us while Jesus demonstrated loving His enemies.  God does not merely "put up with" those who malign and falsely accuse Him of wickedness, but He truly loves them and proved it by Jesus dying on the cross for sinners.

People are quite skilled to learn what things to say or do to have their way, to get what they want.  Children learn from a young age the doors good manners can open for them, how by saying "please" and "thank you" they find favour from parents, teachers and even strangers.  Good manners are a far cry from humility, and cultured behaviour is no indicator of the heart.  God's desire is for us to live righteously and godly in this present age, and this is only possible by being transformed from within, born again by faith in Jesus Christ.  There are no shortage of self-righteous people in this world, yet doing good is no substitute for calling on the LORD out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22).

The wisdom of the world has great fleshly appeal because it makes sense to us, yet God's ways and wisdom are infinitely beyond ours.  God's wisdom appears foolish to people who do not know Him, and despite man's wisdom he remained completely ignorant of God who created him.  So God revealed Himself to the world through Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 1:22-25 says, "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."  Paul does not infer God is foolish but showed how man's wisdom is pathetic when compared with the weak and foolish things God uses in His wisdom to confound the wise.

Some pursue what they call the "good life" when all this world can offer will fade away into obscurity forever.  Jesus is both good (because He is God) and the Life who alone offers eternal life by the Gospel.  Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"  Jesus was asked many questions, and often Jesus answered questions of those who sought to entrap Him with questions of His own His enemies could not answer without self-incrimination.  God has the incredible ability to say things a child can easily understand while at the same time the most learned dare not answer.  Isn't His love, righteousness and wisdom awesome?