Pieces from Blue like Jazz
I’m reading Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller. Three points struck me so far:
- We are all evil inside. I agree with him wholeheartedly but have a hard time accepting this. Do I have inside me the same evil that would force children to become soliders or would rape women in the Congo? I don’t want to say yes. I fight it, but I am the same as all other humans: that same darkness does live deep inside me.
- Grace and forgiveness is a gift, and that’s hard to accept. He said some people don’t have a problem accepting this free gift from God, but many of us do. We say we accept it, but then we work hard to live up to it (to be worthy of receiving it) or we feel guilty when do bad things or are ungrateful. Both are indicators that we haven’t fully understood that God just loves and accepts us. Just the way we are. Fully and completely with all our problems. Loves us through and through.
- God is a mystery. He’s affirming what our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters have always treasured. This speaks to me as I’m not the logical, provable type of person. I feel comforted by the mystery and mystical about God and my faith in him. So, it’s good to hear there are other Western Christians okay with and needing the mystery of God.