Tuesday, August 14, 2012

God's Paradoxical Living

The bible sure can seem confusing sometimes or at least full of paradox. When it seems so, perhaps it is helpful to recall what the Catholic Church teaches concerning the truth of the bible.

The Catholic position is: the bible is without error in all it intends to teach. So when Jeremiah says God intentionally "duped" him, he is simply expressing how he feels. The bible is not trying to teach us a trickster god intentionally makes fools out of us; however, if we enter into a loving God's seemingly paradoxical teachings, we experience being duped in a beautiful way. That is what the bible is intending to teach us.

For example, when Jesus says in the Gospel we must take up our cross and we must lose our lives, He is speaking to us about the crosses and losses of daily living.  (Matt. 16:24,25; Mark 8:34,35; Luke 9:23,24)

When we live our lives for Him who gave His life for us it may seem at first that we are losing out on what our culture tells us are the goals of life, that is, you can not be happy unless you are getting, getting, getting.

The paradox is we will not be happy unless we are giving considerably more than we are getting. Perhaps you too have experienced that paradox: The more I give of myself, my time, my talent, my treasure, the more I receive. This type of giving is a beautiful way of "losing" our lives in Jesus and living in Him and for Him.

I have always wanted to be the kind of person who gives more than I take. What about you?

Instead of living that trinity of getting, getting, getting, why not live God's Trinity of giving, giving, giving like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live. They literally pour their lives out for us. If we too can do that, pour out a trinity of giving, we will experience the loving wonder of God's paradoxical living. --DGH

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