This piece was originally written on January 3, 2009
"In order to create a painting, sometimes you have to use dark colors." This could not be truer, as dark and light permiate the very fabric of our being.
I inherited only two things from my grandfather when he passed away in September. There was no money, for he was broke, but he did leave me his favorite watch and his personal Bible. I took the time to look at both recently. A watch. It is the most common tool that we have for measuring time. Time is all we have, divided into the past, the present, and the future. A Bible. My grandfather's greatest possesion for spiritual guidance. Within the pages of this particular Bible, my grandfather made entries whenever a significant event occurred in his life. His first entry was dated 1948, the day he married my grandmother. The entries would continue marking the birth of each of his 5 children, and numerous grandchildren. Here and there he would document negative events, perhaps the passing of a parent, sibling, or accident. Then I stumbled upon his entry dated November 30, 1983. Peter and Betty(my parents), adopt a Korean boy. They name him Michael Lee.
What does this have to do with Justification? Does good yield the same as evil? Why should we be moral, when we live in a world where immorality seemingly prevails? Why do good people suffer, and why do we not see justice?.... We will all see things that will make us doubt. We will all encounter events in our life that our hearts will document, good and bad. Light and dark. Like the writings in my grandpa's Bible. How do we move forward through the teological timeline of life's challenges. How did my grandfather persevere when he watched 1,300 of his fellow soldiers die? When his ship, the HMT Rohna, was hit by a guided missile he had to watch helplessly as thousands of his peers lost their lives. My experiences are not unqiue, his were. My life isn't all that bad. It just doesn't meet my lofty expectations. Who am I to complain when I have never really been challenged? We will all hurt, otherwise all 6.2 billion of us would walk this earth as faceless, and unfeeling clones.
In order to appreciate good, evil must occur. Duh..right? If every painting was a Mona Lisa, would we still consider it a masterpiece? How much more did we value life after 9/11, and the VA Tech shootings. Did it remind you to tell your family how much you loved them? In order to bring out the brilliant purity of white, the darkest black must be held in side by side comparison. For faith to shine brighter, doubt must be first cast, and for Jesus to shine brighter a Hitler must also exist. Suffering in itself is not enough. If only evil people suffered, then the delicate nature of good would never be known. When good people suffer, the delicate balance of life becomes more evident. It seems to contradict morality, but I value life more when good is under attack. If good doesn't always win, you would have nothing to stand for, fight for, or have faith in prevailing. It is painful to witness, but I have seen many good people suffer in ways I know their life never deserved. But, what is good? What is truth?
Good people do not exist. Let's face it, none of you, or me, is perfect. The word sin, although overly used, literally means to miss the mark. It does not matter how far you miss the mark, the bottom line is that it is not a bull'e eye. That is why Mother Teresa and Hitler, on a moral compass would be viewed to same. Is that twisted? Yes, but it is just. Can you ever be good enough to make up for the sin factor. No, and anyways who would decide what was good enough? Like mentioned above, even a hint of black(sin), makes a white painting permanently grey. A shadow of minor imperfection effects the whole image.
There is no good enough. Only perfection and imperfection. History only hints at the idea that one human was perfect, Jesus Christ. Can perfection be traded in to cover the imperfection of all man kind? Can His white, remove the stains from our grey canvass? Is His brilliance white enough to cleanse the black, and pure enough the erase the scars? The Bible details this trade off at Calvary,the place Jesus died on the cross. The horrible death of someone good. Does that sound familiar to my last writing? How about the death of someone loving, healing, and self sacrificing? The theme remains, but did evil prevail? Three days later it was found that death could not eliminate true goodness. Good won, and Justification prevailed. Alas my preaching stops here.
What is justice then? Getting what we deserve. I truly deserve nothing.The only thing we are granted for certain is birth and death. Everything in the middle is an accumilation of our interactions with the world around us. What is grace? Getting what we do not deserve, be it a family, a job, or the hope of salvation through the Son of God.
The Closing: Why did I write this note, and my other darker note? Dark and light must be viewed, or read in this case side by side. I wanted to get you guys/gals thinking in ways you probably don't. I was reminded by recent "complications in my life", that these issues are entirely worth talking about. They are possibly the most important things in life. Find what matters and cling to it tightly. That which does not matter, let go.
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