What Appears to Be Insane

Acts 26:24-25

While he was making this defense, Festus exclaimed, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth.

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Welcome to my breakdown.
I hope I didn't scare you.
That's just the way we are when we come down.

"Welcome to My Nightmare" by Alice Cooper

One of the most difficult things about being a Christian is that to the world we're all kind of crazy. We believe in love. We believe in redemption. We believe no one is beyond the reach of God's redemptive work. Where this gets crazy is that if we believe no one is beyond redemption we had better believe that no one is beyond redemption. The moment we put limits on God's redeeming work, we put limits on God.

Sharing this truth has put Christians in a pickle since the beginning of Christ's ministry. Men left the family business. Men left their homes and families. Followers suffered scorn, ridicule, pain and even death. What's crazy is that they continued their mission!

We can always depend on the Holy Spirit to give us the words we need to share the Good News, but we can't guarantee people will be ready to hear it, or at least to accept it. Festus heard the word, but he was not ready to hear it. He declared Paul out of his mind. "Too much learning is driving you insane!" Festus was scared, frightened by the words Paul spoke and he could not fathom them. Instead he declared the Apostle coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs.

Friends, share the good news with your neighbors and you will risk the same rejection. Jesus tells us that we will be rejected by some, but he will never reject us. When people call us crazy we need to welcome them to our breakdown. It's just the way people often hear the word of God when it first comes down to them.

That's fine too, we aren't alone. Many have been called that sort of crazy before the Apostle. Many have been called that sort of crazy for speaking the sober truth. In Christ there is no nightmare, there is no breakdown--it'll just look that way to some people.