Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Paradox

Lyric from Chris Tomlin's "I Will Rise":
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

A paradox. It seems self-contradictory but expresses truth. Nowhere else than before God can we simultaneously fall and rise. We fall on our knees, or surrender our lives to Him, and rise. We rise on eagles' wings. A steady, graceful rise, propelled by God. 

As we sang "I Will Rise" on Sunday, it occurred to me how often the Bible expresses paradoxical statements and ideas.  We find truth in unlikely statements. Look at the following:
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:39
"One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." Proverbs 13:7
"Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: ...... genuine, yet regarded as imposters; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and not yet killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." 2 Cor 6:4, 8-10
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ." Philippians 3:7
Outside a Christian walk, these make little sense. Only through the love of Christ do we find meaning.  And what is the lesson? There are many and I will miss most! But here is the one that reaches me: each verse calls us away from those things deemed important by the world and toward life through Christ. The world tells us to control our lives, to find happiness in money and possessions, to be strong and independent, and to take pride in our accomplishments. Scripture tells us otherwise. There is an antidote above for each of these wordly "treasures." Consider how they apply to your life; I will be doing the same.

It could be no accident that Scripture uses paradox to teach these messages. Living a life committed to Christ often means we live against the way of the world. Scripture trains us accordingly by using lessons that contradict themselves, yet speak truth. 

Your walk with Christ may run contradictory to the world but you, too, can speak truth through it.
"Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a 'fool' so that he may become wise." 1 Cor 3:18
Time to get smart and be a fool.

1 comments:

Tina said...

ONE of my favorite posts!
Die to live...
The last is first...

Awesome!