“You have got to be kidding!”
How many times have we said that? What we mean is that something is out of the ordinary. It’s beyond belief. It simply boggles our mind.
We’re saying that certain things make sense to us, and that other things don’t.
Several years ago, several small towns outside Fort Worth, Texas, were serviced by a divided four-lane highway with a separate access road on either side. This highway had been in use for over fifty years, allowing access to the larger metropolitan area in about twenty minutes. Then, the State revealed plans to remove the highway, forcing everyone onto the access roads, complete with stop signs and red lights. That twenty-minute drive would soon increase to nearly forty-five.
“You have got to be kidding!” It was beyond belief. Why would they do such a thing? Within two years, the four-lane highway was a memory, only revealed in the grassy expanse planted to cover the displaced concrete.
No one had believed it was really going to happen until construction crews began jackhammering the highway. Who would have thought such a thing could happen? It was truly a case of The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction.
Now read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5:
“Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, …he was buried, …he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and…he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”
No way! The dead walking? We’ve seen that movie. It’s all makeup and CGI special effects.
Except, except…the truth is indeed stranger than fiction. That highway got ripped out after fifty years of credible service, even as people dismissed the possibility as fanciful nonsense.
Have we dismissed Christ’s reality that he was God incarnate, he is our risen Lord, and everything the Scriptures say about him is evidence of his deity?
When we put aside our disbelief, then we will find him to be exactly what he claims to be, our Savior, who came and died on a cross, to bring us eternal salvation through his blood.
God loves to be extreme. It’s how he shows us he’s really God.
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