BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
-- Romans 5:1-5
THOUGHT: One of the main tenets of the Christian faith is the idea of "grace" through "faith" in Jesus Christ. It's kind of a complicated concept, but this passage has a lot of really beautiful ideas in it, so I thought it might be worth wading through. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, let me just explain this excerpt as I best understand it, so that you can have a better idea of the concept.
1. We are justified through faith... don't think of justification so much as an excuse, instead think when you justify your typesetting on a paper-- you make it right, you make it fit well where it's supposed to go. By trusting in God (having faith), we fit well into his love.
2. This gives us peace, specifically peace in relationship with God-- there is nothing between us.
3. Jesus Christ is the person who-- if we have faith in his teachings and in his sacrifice*-- can provide a new place for us to stand in grace, where we don't have to live in constant fear of making mistakes, striving to do right or trying to be good, we can just rest that all of our mistakes are covered for in redemption, that even if we'll never be 'good enough' by our own actions, God calls us perfect by covering for everything else with love. We can make choices out of love, not trying to earn love or fear punishment.
4. "We boast in the hope of the glory of God... and hope does not put us to shame..."
The rest of this passage talks about hope-- a hope that doesn't put us to shame (I know we've all experienced that sense of disappointment when we are hoping for something and then it doesn't go well, or it doesn't happen... this author makes it clear that this hope doesn't lead to disappointment or shame, so we don't have to be afraid in hoping in it. It's an interesting clarification). We gain that hope by going through hard things and challenges. In other words, because of our faith, our suffering doesn't have to be meaningless... it can actually be redeemed as perseverance, character, and hope.
And the hope is connected to the glory of God. Many of you all go to Yale and see the glory of man in academia every day... or maybe you don't see it, because now that you've been in it for a while, you see that the symbols of man-made glory-- fancy buildings and awards and riches-- seem to fade as you get closer. God's glory though, if we can hope in it forever without being disappointed, never loses its wonderfulness and awesomeness. There is no diminishing marginal utility =)
CHALLENGE: I really love the last verse of this passage: "And this hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." This 'pouring' metaphor is so key to understanding how all this love, faith, grace stuff all works. Imagine that you are a cup, and some great metaphysical being takes you and holds you in a body of water for a second to fill you up, then puts you into your daily life where you get 'poured out.' In your interactions and in your work, it's like you tip yourself over and give away the love and the joy and those things that you have, and when it's over, you feel tired, empty, maybe lonely-- your cup is empty. Then you go through the same process again, looking for places to fill up your cup wherever you are.
But imagine that there is a spiritual being with you everywhere you are, a pitcher of love that-- no matter where you go or who you interact with-- pours love into you. And he (note that the passage says "who"-- the Holy Spirit here is a person) doesn't just keep filling you up to the top like a busboy at a restaurant. In fact, he'd be a really bad busboy, because what he does is fill you up to overflowing. He's like a never-ending pitcher, infinity himself, and so when he's hanging out with you, you don't even have to do anything to be pouring out the love he's giving you... it's just overflowing out of you all the time because he's constantly pouring more into you, over the rim of your cup. And you never have to be drained or empty... on the contrary, you're always full to overflowing.
Try praying this weekend a prayer to ask the Holy Spirit (God's person, dwelling and working in the world) to pour into your life and give you rest from the exhausting process of being drained out. Here's one of my favorite repetitive prayers (you just say it over and over again for a little while, meditating on what each word or phrase means for you):
" Spirit of the living God, rest on me, fill me, pour out of me,
reveal yourself to me, in truth and love. Amen."
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