Simple thoughts on faith, church and discipleship
I have found myself in parts of this season just wishing that it will be over soon, rather than figuring out how to press in, in faith, in the midst of it. I have said it, and heard it said quite a lot over the last couple of weeks, "Oh, as soon as this is over." "I just can't wait for this to just be over." "Let's just get back to normal."
Some days, the Bible speaks to you in vivid pictures of deep meaning and resonance. Every line in every verse feels as if it is probing the depths of your soul and leaving you vulnerable and exposed, as well as confident and assured. Some days it is just obvious how living and active the Word of God is. On other days, your bible reading is from the first three chapters of 1st Chronicles.
You see, ultimately, the Bible tells one long story. It is the story of a God who still works in the midst of the mess of our human stories. He continues to do that today. Where can you recognize His work?
Sin leaks, and creeps, and repeats. The multi-generational narrative form of the Old Testament doesn't hide this from us, in fact, it paints it vividly in painful details of children living with the consequences of their parent's sins and, all too often, allowing those sins to form patterns that they live out themselves.
Everyone gets put in the grave, but not everyone will walk out of it into eternal riches.
What is perishable, will be imperishable. What is dishonorable, will be honorable. What is weak, will have power. What is natural, will be spiritual.
I used to say that when I get to heaven (by an abundance of grace) one day, I will have a lot of questions for God. I need to understand Romans 9, and the book of Judges, and slavery in Scripture, and, and, and ... I have a list. In reality, I will have no questions, I will only have awe. The result of genuine revelation is always repentance.
The redemptive arc of the Bible is long, and it bends towards the King, who came from the line of Ruth and Boaz, a line that endured the horror show of the end of Judges.
I have tried so many things in life to try and secure what looks like blessing and none of it has worked. Eventually I had to get to the point where I let a gracious God wrestle me into the dirt, reminding me there of His strength and my weakness, and yet it is there, in the dirt, when I didn't let go, that I finally got grace, and its associated limp.
