Choose wisely

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."

1 Corinthians 1:18

On our trip to Scotland, our first stop in the Highlands was Blair Atholl, home to the Blair Estate and Blair Castle. Parts of the Estate are also in the Cairngorms national forest land; there is abundant hiking throughout the Estate.

Carol and I were walking along a creek and had just crossed over an old stone bridge, when we noticed that there was a trail to a place called The Whim. The Whim is a folly built in the 18^th century by the Duke of Atholl. From a distance, The Whim looks a bit like it could be a castle or some significant building on the Estate. But when you get there, all it is is a stone wall with arches, and it marks no boundary nor has any rooms.

It's a fancy arrangement of rocks, jutting out of the forest at the edge of a sheep pasture.

A folly, in case you were wondering, is an edifice with no apparent purpose. The Whim is a folly.

There are scores of follies across Scotland. According to a tour guide who took us around the Isle of Skye, a folly was basically something for the wealthy land owners to put up on their property as a way of boasting about their wealth. The majority of the follies weren't functional at all, except to demonstrate extravagance.

To be fair, some of the follies were built in times of famine, when the farm laborers could not work the land. And so in order to give them a way to earn a wage, the landowners had the follies built.

But mostly, the follies served no purpose, other than to amuse us centuries later.

I translate this image to faith in this way: when people build their lives around any other purpose than to live in faith and faithfulness to the living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, then life becomes a folly.

As I write this devotion, it is Holy Week in the life of the church—that week that spans from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, to the Last Supper in the upper room, to the trial and crucifixion, to the glorious mystery of the Resurrection. The events of Holy Week as told in the Bible are of utmost importance. The stories tell of Jesus' speaking truth and justice to the authorities, and the dark conspiracy of resistance to Jesus' way. In the face of everything, Jesus steadfastly forged ahead. He never wavered, because he knew that the only way he would defeat sin and secure eternal life for sinners like you and me, would be to walk the way of the cross.

One of the things I get from Holy Week is that God takes sin seriously. God is dead serious about sin. God is also serious about his steadfast love for the world, a love so great that he is not willing to stand idly by while we perish in our sin.

On the cross, Jesus satisfies the righteousness of God in regard to our sin. And on the cross, Jesus loved us with an everlasting love, because the death he died was our death. The hell he suffered was our hell.

This is how God has dealt with our sin. This is how God has granted us eternal life. God has not made any other provision for our eternal well-being and security, except by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and his resurrection.

Any other attempt to secure one's salvation is folly.

Paul says, “We preach Christ crucified...”

The hymn declares, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

Build your life on the foundation that is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Or build a folly.

Your choice.