WHAT A PARADOX!

Do you know what it means for something to be a "paradox"? Webster's dictionary has a wonderful definition that reads: "a statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd but that may actually be true in fact." Finally, a new definition of a Christian.

Phillip Brewer wrote these

PARADOXES OF A MAN OF GOD".

Strong enough to be weak;

Successful enough to fail;

Busy enough to take time;

Wise enough to say, 'I don't know';

Serious enough to laugh;

Rich enough to be poor;

Right enough to say, 'I'm wrong';

Compassionate enough to discipline;

Conservative enough to give freely;

Mature enough to be childlike;

Righteous enough to be a sinner;

Important enough to be last;

Courageous enough to fear God;

Planned enough to be spontaneous;

Controlled enough to be flexible;

Free enough to endure captivity;

Knowledgeable enough to ask questions;

Loving enough to be angry;

Great enough to be anonymous;

Responsible enough to play;

Assured enough to be rejected;

Stable enough to cry;

Victorious enough to lose;

Industrious enough to relax;

Leading enough to serve.

Now if that doesn't describe THE life of Christians who serve Jesus Christ, I don't know what would. Can you place your life or the life of your friends in that comparison today?

Christ tells us a wonderful paradox in Matthew: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will love it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:24)

And Paul in His letter to the church at Philippi said: "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things."

Oh, those crazy Christians. How God must love them in this world.

Mid-Week Prayer

"Loving Father! In the glory of Your Holy Spirit let our lives become a paradox to this world. What the world would understand as love, let us show them the willingness of a sacrificial love. And what the world would know as truth, let us show it to be the darkness and evil that it is.

Come to our lives and bring the glory of your loving presence so that we might bring others to You. We pray this in Your Holy Name. Amen."

This has been Rev. Jim Massey. Join me again next week for another Mid-week Epistle.