Good stories; or, getting it even when you don't want to

I am reminded tonight of C.S. Lewis' use of the phrase "good stories" to describe the way that God has written Himself on the souls of humanity. In other words, every culture has little things that are a part of it that God has put in so that when His Truth comes, there's something there for it to cling to, to allow it to be understood and made sensible culturally. I am no anthropologist, although it would be interesting to find out details about that. However, tonight I realized that even in our secular culture, God still has Himself built into the wisdom of our age--even if it is in an insult. From a post on a message board I frequent:

Faith is a moron answer to a question that they can't answer because they know the answer is moronic.

And, of course, it is. In fact, that's basically the gist of the Gospel. Paul puts it thusly in 1 Corinthians 20-25:

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God has set up the universe in such a way that those who want to come to Him don't get to come on their terms. We don't come into His love as strong, wise men full of ourselves, having solved the mystery of the world by being so darn smart. Nor do we do it by trying to tune ourselves into the universe. It isn't really anything we can do at all. We are brought into His presence, in our weakness and foolishness, and it is in that, that God is able to do His best work. All our works are built on foundations of pride and sin; no matter how right we might be we always manage to take it the wrong direction. Even in Christianity humans manage to grab hold of it and miss the entire point, in multiple directions--becoming all-knowledgeable about the Scriptures while forgetting that it's supposed to be influencing the way we look at the world, or becoming compassionate for our fellow man but forgetting that the purpose is to spread the Gospel to everyone.

That poster was right on, and I am thankful for that opportunity to say my piece, as well as to learn more about how God has worked in this world as He prepares to redeem it.