:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Christianity after growing up with it, studying it in college, really studying it in seminary, and continuing to read extensively after seminary, it’s this one simple thing: I’m always wrong about something because I’m always changing or shifting one belief or another (usually small stuff, but still…).

Error is inevitable for every Christian.

N.T. Wright, the patron saint of theological awesomeness, often tells his students that significant bits of what he teaches them are wrong, but he’s not sure which bits are wrong.

I used to imagine God sitting up in heaven with the Westminster Confession or Ladd’s Theology of the New Testament and a scantron sheet with a pile of number two pencils. Perhaps he’d whip out a Wesleyan hymnal for an examination on classic hymns.

Perhaps he’d just tell me, “That bridge to life explanation of the Gospel was a good try, but you didn’t quite know enough about how the cross works. Sorry pal. If only you’d done a better job on your seminary homework…”

While I have no doubt that I’ll be amazed at how far off some of my beliefs are, I also have no doubt that God will be merciful to us even though we’re stupid.

Perhaps you think I’m overstating the stupidity of humanity, but scripture is quite conclusive on the matter. God declares, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” and then for good measure he adds, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

We may think we have a solid grasp of God, but it will always be a dim, imperfect sketch of God’s full-colored reality.

To my utter amazement, God seems OK with this.

Whether we rely too much on grace, the cross, God being a pushover, God being a wimp, sacraments, the Bible, icons, meditation, emotional worship songs, fixed hour prayer, incense, creeds, theology, or whatever else, God is still able to save us.

I’ve been switching between the New and Old Testaments quite a bit for the past few years, and I continue to notice over and over again the same theme loud and clear: Love the Lord.

Isn’t that refreshing in its simplicity? It’s as if God knew we are hopelessly stupid, that we would mix up our theology, that we would confuse worship of God and worship of country, that we would commit sins that we’d never see on this side of heaven, and that we’d need to repent times without number.

Loving God and letting him change us overshadows our faltering efforts and the times when we mean the best and still stumble into error.