Tension

So many Christians seem obsessed with clearly defining and categorizing every aspect of God as if God were something small enough to fit into our own limited human capacity for understanding. Because of this obsession for explainable categories, we love to divide and define ourselves (Calvinist vs. Arminian, etc.). For me, I don't have a problem living in the tension between seemingly incompatible concepts, because I know that God is much bigger than my need for absolute clarity. Here are just a few of the most obvious "contradictions" in scripture that God doesn't seem to see as contradictions at all...

God is Three distinct beings (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and yet God is unmistakingly and inseparably One.

God is completley Sovereign over all things and yet man is completely responsible for his own actions and the consequences that our free will brings.

The Bible was written entirely by God and the Bible was written entirely by men.

God's gifts of Grace and Salvation are completely free, and yet they may cost you everything that you have.

I'm not trying to oversimplify these huge concepts; I'm simply want to encourage all of us to avoid wasting up all of our energy in the quest to completely understand things that we're incapable of fully comprehending until we get to the other side of eternity. Don't be afraid to live in the Tension. Life's too short to live anyplace else.