*God doesn't make sense... and it's WONDERFUL!!

A long ago post I re-found in my drafts, hope you enjoy! :)

When have you stopped to think about the fact that the Gospel doesn't make any sense?

I, at least, easily fall into the habit of believing that the Gospel - the whole story of the world and redemption as God has spun it - makes sense. And that is often how I present the Gospel to others. And there are many ways in which the Gospel is logical and reasonable~

...the Uncaused Causer that is the beginning of everything

...the fact of our infinite guilt before God means that only He can do something about it

...the pain and twistedness of our world due to the Fall

...the blood-atonement covering our sins, as laid out by the Scriptures

but in the midst of all this stuff that makes sense, it's hard to take a step back and realize what doesn't. It's hard to recapture the wonder and mystery of God's astonishing nature and plans. For me, it took a conversation with an incredulous Muslim friend!

We began by talking about the Trinity. While I attempted to explain how the nature of the world and of ourselves reflects the Trinitarian nature of God, I ultimately told him that I could not explain the Trinity to him. 3 = 1 is not a logical mathematical construct, not one bit! And I think it was around this time that I asked him a question that defines my memory of this conversation: "Do you really expect God to make sense??"

Is He compelled by our logic?

Does He conform to our expectations?

Will He fit in our preconceived notions of reality?

Bless Him, no!

Does it make sense that the One/Three who was perfect and complete in Himself would extend Himself to make creatures who would only break His heart? Does it make sense that He would choose to love us, and thereby have His heart broken? He was not compelled to have any feeling for His playthings ~but He loved us with an everlasting love!

And then we all, in Adam, chose disobedience and death over Him. Did He remake the world? Did He remake us? Get a fresh start? Or did He leave us in the dust that we deserved? 

That He did not do.

My friends, how did we ever get used to this?

Since when does grace make sense?

It is not how the world works. 

In this world, we study hard, test well, make good grades, and pass the class (thanks to my friend for this analogy!). So we expect in heavenly things that we will work hard, live well, prove our worth, and get into Heaven. This is logical and reasonable, is it not? Perhaps we can't quite make it on our own, and God, as a kind professor, will add the extra points we need to achieve our 'passing grade.' He is, of course, under no obligation to do so - but His goodness and kindness cause Him to help us. Right?

"God helps those who help themselves." Right?

When we call ^that "grace" we have no idea of what the Gospel means. 

Grace is this: Jesus works hard, lives well, proves His worth, and WE get into heaven.

Grace is this: Jesus takes the test, passes the class, and we get His GPA. 

Our grand contribution to this endeavor? We say, "Yes, Jesus, I would like Your GPA. Thanks a lot!" :)

Whew, really impressive, aren't we?

This is grace: Jesus does everything, we say thank You!

Does this make sense?

no...
but it's WONDERFUL!