Word.

I received an email a few days ago from a friend and it had the word cogent used in a sentence.  Either I have missed this word completely in my 48 years or he has one of those 365 “Word of the Day” calendars on his desk that he received as a Christmas gift last year. Smarty pants. I obviously had to ask Google what it meant…

Cogent: adjective (of an argument or case) clear, logical, convincing

synonyms: convincing, compelling, strong, forceful, powerful, potent, weighty, impactful, effective, valid, sound, plausible, telling; impressive, persuasive, eloquent, credible, influential; conclusive, authoritative; logical, reasoned, rational, reasonable, lucid, coherent, clear    – Google

WHEW! That’s a lot of words! These words to me, describe Jesus’ case. The Case.

I have to think that it must have been super cool to be a friend of Jesus while he walked on earth. People were drawn to him, followed him, hung on his every word and believed each miracle they witnessed. And then you have the others…. skeptical, threatened, intimidated and full of actual hate towards him.  He was either loved or hated. And still is today.

I heard a sermon a few years ago and the Pastor said that Jesus offended more people, probably than anyone in history. Why do you think people were SO offended? SO untrusting? SO mean to a man that was here to show Life and to heal and restore and to love and show people The Way. The only way. To Life.

There really are TWO ways. The other way, well, a way that you probably couldn’t imagine in the scariest of movies or the worst of nightmares. Ever. It’s as real as heaven, because the Bible tells us it is.  I’ll stick to the only way.

It’s hard to wrap your mind around the biblical history of people spitting on Jesus, abusing Jesus, beating Jesus – almost to death – before leading Him up to the spot where He would be laughed at, mocked, judged, and ridiculed until the moment He took his last breath.

Maybe the skeptics knew that if they chose to believe in Jesus and believe in who he said he was, that they would have to change their way of living to follow him. Ouch.

Fear engulfed the people that refused to know Jesus, to the point that they wanted him dead, finished. I believe that they were mentally and emotionally crippled by fear. One of the greatest tools of the enemy is fear. Fear can take hold of you and can paralyze even the strongest person. Zach Williams has a song that puts fear in its place. You can listen to it here: Fear Is a Liar – Zach Williams

There were two types of people at the foot of that cross that day. Mockers and mourners. That gives us something to think about.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.    – John 15:13

To be continued…