AMAZINGABI

Wonder—is not precisely Knowing

Macbook Air

“The richest love is that which submits to the arbitration of time.”

The message of Ecclesiastes is not that life is full of good times and bad times and so you just have to roll with the punches. Rather, the message is that life is full of good times and bad times that we cannot control, but the patterning of our lives in this way is part of a bigger pattern that God controls. It's not just that good follows bad, follows good again, and that's the end of it. The point is that I can live within this rhythmic pattern and accept not having all the answers to my times of pain yet. Yet. This is the key. Every time of mine will have its day in court. So while I wait, how then should I live?

240923: Bouncy Pork

The gospel of salvation through sheer grace holds a second implication for work. While ancient monks may have sought salvation through religious works, many modern people seek a kind of salvation self-esteem and self-worth- from career success. This leads us to seek only high-paying, high-status jobs, and to "worship" them in perverse ways. But the gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves and secure our identity through work, for we are already proven and secure. It also frees us from a condescending attitude toward less sophisticated labor and from envy over more exalted work. All work now becomes a way to love the God who saved us freely; and by extension, a way to love our neighbor.

230819: Week One

230410: Early April Conversations

“There is no pit so deep, that His love is not deeper still.”