Some Days It Seems So Ridiculously Clear...

Got off to a late start yesterday after losing a wrestling match with insomnia on Sunday night. Caffiene used to never affect me. Now, I have a Diet Pepsi with my teenagers after Sunday School and I'm up until four in the morning. So, I took my nap earlier in the day yesterday.

Anyway, it wound up being a productive day. Mowed the lawn. Got rid of the old paint cans in the garage according to the town of Flower Mound's regulations. Worked out at the gym. Took Kelsey to dinner and softball practice. I read some of a church history book I've been meaning to get after for quite some time.

I love it when I come across those overtly simple things that, to me, seem so crystal clear and desireable. What's funny is that others see them as opaque and scary and troublesome. Here it is, compliments of author Bruce Shelley, talking about the divisions in the 1st century church in large part based on their Jewish heritage:

"Grace always arises from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Many Christians thought Paul was impossibly optomistic. They were deeply troubled by the decline in Christian morality they felt sure would come in Gentile churches. If you teach justification by faith alone, they argued, people will imagine that once they have accepted Christ by faith it does not really matter how they live.

On the contrary, said Paul, if they really have accepted Christ by faith, they have accepted the way of Christ and the mind of Christ. The man who really loves God can do as he chooses, for if he really loves God he will choose to do the will of God."

Funny. We haven't fixed that reality in 2,000 years. It just seems so clear to me...