What we cannot do ...

Good morning. Friday, Feb 6, 2009. Christian faith offers an interesting basis for life. The basis is God himself in Jesus. It is God who cares for people. One basic insight is that as humans we cannot really do too much. We cannot make crops grow. Everything we eat basically grows by itself - by the power of God. We can try to nurture it, to protect it, to harvest it. But we cannot make plants or animals grow.

There is more of this type of insight. To live we need other people. We need care as a child. We need appreciation. We need love. We cannot provide this care or love. We cannot do much to earn it. It is given to us without payment. All love which is payed for is not love. You cannot pay love. Isn't it interesting, that the thing we need most in life cannot be earned?

There is even more insight! God says that we cannot earn justice. We cannot earn full acceptance by God through our actions. We need this to be given to us. We will need to discuss this in more detail later. But a key point is that in Jesus God provides justice and acceptance to everyone. His Cross is a place of justice, of punishment, death and hatress overcome by love. This cross, which creates so many difficulties to understand its depth and logic, is a crucial place and event for every one of us personally! [R.P., Reading, UK]

... more texts