Occasionally, I have the good sense to spend some time on Bible verses that I usually gloss over. Ephesians 1:4-5 says that God loved us before the creation of the world, chose to reckon us faultless through Christ (like, for free), and that He took great pleasure in that. There are no words to describe how unbelievable that is.
So often I struggle with why God allows so much pain. I think it’s just as big a philosophical problem–and an emotionally jarring one–that He has pleasure in redeeming people as flawed as I am. That’s not trying to slap myself with some good, old fashioned Christian asceticism. It’s just an honest–and frankly, cathartic–acknowledgment of reality. Feeling absolutely floored by the Christian message as it strikes me in a fresh light.
Jacobonia 