Yesterday I finished reading a book that I’ve been working
on for two months, The
Epistle to the Romans, by Karl Barth. I wrote a review, which can be read here. One thought that I took from the book and I
am going to continue to mull over has to do with the way God shapes our
conscience as we grasp the grace He gives us in Christ. Here is what I wrote:
“ In a section on the theme of grace he[Barth] writes, “Grace
means also the possibility, not of a ‘good’(!) conscience, but of a consoled conscience.” (428, italics mine) We who know God through our faith in the
finished work of Christ know that we will continue to sin against God, a God
who continues to hold us and forgives us nonetheless. God forgives our sins. He removes them from our presence. But the sure grasp of this knowledge in our
minds, the removal of our sin from God, does not remove the memories that we
have of our sin. In Christ we are not
changed existentially from ‘bad’ to ‘good.’
In the knowledge of who we are before God we are not so much ‘bad’ as
‘broken.’ And Barth reminds us that in our
brokenness, through the work of Christ, we are consoled and comforted as we
receive God’s mercy. This is a bit of
the Good News that we need to be reminded of each day, sometimes many times
each day.”
And, THAT is another layer of meaning in the answer to Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 1 -- What is my only comfort... Sometimes we assume a smaller definition of comfort, I think. A lesser, more comfortable one to our way of thinking. You've described our life cycle well, Brad. Surely, brokenness is what God asks of us because it's our truth, our reality when we finally face it and in that bottoming-out we are found and, even there, profoundly loved.
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