Hope

Truth in Tension

– Those we love the most, we hurt the most
– Forgiveness, which can never be earned, should always be given
– Resisting offense when we’re wronged, but fighting for the injustice suffered by others

All of these things, and many more, run counter to what we believe should be. And yet all of these things were commanded by Scripture to do.

I think one of the hardest things in the Christian life is wrestling with the paradoxes between what our human nature calls for, and what our God calls us to. We are content with the mundane, and He beckons us to the glorious. We think that ordinary is sufficient, He calls us to the exceptional. We’ve settled for our natural instinct, He calls us to supernatural practices.

Truth in tension. Trying to understand how that which makes no sense can be perfectly sensible. It’s never easy. But its worth the fight.

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Hope

An Unaffordable Love

A good friend of the family taught me that relationships were like bank accounts; you may deposits and you make withdrawals. The key is to not make a greater withdrawal than the accumulation of the deposits you make. That’s when problems emerge. The example she gave resonates with me still today – if she asked her daughter to do something and got a snappy response in return she knew that she was overdrawn. In one way or another, the balance had been altered.

We tend to approach our relationship with God in the same way. We think that if we make enough deposits that we’re entitled to withdrawals. This is the “well, at least I’m not as bad as that guy” mindset. However, when we think about the deposit that’s made been on our account – the selfless sacrifice of a Father who gave his Son on our behalf and a Son who willingly left His rightful place in heaven to pay that sacrifice – we realize that no amount of deposits can restore the balance. We are deeply in His debt. His love can’t be purchased and if it could, its price none of us would be able to afford.

The even more amazing part of this equation is that on an account that I can never pay off, the things that I do out of love for Him, the acts of faith, are “credited” to me as righteousness. No payment satisfies the bill and yet we are given credit. What an amazing grace indeed.

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