A Glorious Contradiction
A few weeks back I posted this statement on Twitter: “divine incongruousness… in death I found life.” The word incongruous means “inconsistent, out of place, lacking harmony.” It was a strange way to describe something relating to God, but really it is a great truth of the gospel. You see the gospel is a glorious contradiction—that in death I have found new life. Paul tells us throughout his letters in the New Testament that we were dead—dead because of our sin, but dead nonetheless—and the only way that we can find life is through Christ’s death on the Cross. So you see, it is through death that we find life. But the contradiction continues in Ephesians 2:4-5: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved).”
You see God loved us while we were still sinners. He gave us the greatest gift we could ever get (Christ) while we were at our worst. That would be like your parents giving you a car as a gift after picking you up from the police station for stealing a car. No parent would ever give their child a gift after they broke the law. It just would not make any sense; it would be totally out of place. But that is exactly what God did for us. When we were at our worst He still loved us. We did not have to get to a place where we were kind of loveable or do anything to earn His love. He loves us because that is who He is—God is love. God is not scared by our shortcomings. He knows our failures, and they will not scare Him off. God is not looking for a group of people who have it all together or have it all figured out. He just wants a people who are willing to trust Him. Think of it like this: If you and I were picking teams for a game, then we would pick all of the athletic kids first so that we could have a strong team. But that is not how God works, and I’m so glad for that. Paul said in I Cor. 1:27: “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
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about author
Chad Mansur has been part of the Crossfire staff since 2003. He provides administrative assistance to Pastor Gabe & oversees the workshops that complement Crossfire’s annual <a href="https://gabrielswaggart.org/iyc">International Youth Conference</a>. Chad is the Television Director for Wednesday Night Crossfire. He is a 2007 graduate of <a href="https://jsbc.edu" target="_blank">Jimmy Swaggart Bible College</a>, and he is a regular teacher on SBN’s “<a href="https://gabrielswaggart.org/crossfire/gotc">Generation of the Cross</a>” with Gabriel Swaggart.
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