You’ve got to just come apart over this. This is the most unbelievable thing God has done. It has to be God because no one would ever have thought of this. No religion could propose it. No government could command it. No human being could ever think of it, and even when we try to think about it now, we don’t get it, or we get so little of it that we wonder if it’s really true.
If you thought up a god, would you have him take on the form of his own creation, go to them to save them, and have them reject him and kill him? And then would you raise him from the dead and have his resurrected being witnessed by over a hundred people, yet unconfirmed by science, so it would be disputed for the rest of human history. And then would you have his church begun by a rag tag team of followers with little credibility and no social clout? See what I mean? It’s preposterous. It’s unthinkable.
It’s enough to prove its true. Besides, on top of everything, who would make forgiveness of sins and the eternal life Christ brings something he hands out free? No one, because I know enough about human nature to know that if we had anything to do with this, we would make people have to work to get into heaven, and we would manipulate the requirements so we could control who gets in and who we doesn’t. (We shake our heads over the indictment Jesus gave the Pharisees as those who hold the keys to the kingdom and use them to keep people out, without realizing we do this every single day in our minds.)
Imagine someone arranging religion, to put himself on the outside of it, and then bringing a savior for him and his other outsider friends, and then carry them right on into the lap of the living God? I don’t think any human being would in his or her wildest imagination come up with this. But this is exactly what God has done. He let Religion condemn us so He could send His Son to join the human caravan in order to save us.
There’s really only one thing you can do when you really get this…
Rejoice!
John Fischer The Catch 
Wanted to thx you Pastor John 4 this very good Catch today – I about always enjoy these types of devotions, simply because how un-logical (if there is such a word) the Gospel is and why to this day it jus completely amazes me!
PS loved your song: Rejoice too… 🙂
Yes, thank you John. So many unlikely people included … Shepherds were near the bottom of the social ladder … women first to the Resurrection were not acceptable witnesses in the courts of the day … yet I constantly look for “better witnesses” when I want to reach the world?
Good Catch today, it really makes one think.
John, you need to tell us the dollar amount owing on your home to save it from being sold. Perhaps there are people who read The Catch who could afford and would feel led to donate a large sum of money if they just knew what the exact need is. I lost a home the same way and believe me, it hurts. I can assure you that if the worst happens regarding your home, God will continue to be with you and take care of your needs, but it a very painful thing to go through. If I had the means, I would send you the amount you need.
January 8th is coming soon but we still have time to pray that the very person/people you need will come along side you and be God’s instruments of rescue. Please keep us posted.
John — the song is beautiful! I would like to sing it for my congregation at some time. Could I purchase a copy of the music? Happy and Redeemed New Year!