day 3: free

"because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having"

God, why have you made me so weak and helpless?

because in your weakness my power is made perfect

when a bodybuilder lifts a heavy weight, no one is truly impressed. they may admire the physique or display of physically fitness, but in the overall picture it's expected and no one will keep a significant memory of that moment.

just as a strong man displays strength, so does the sinner display how far man has fallen away from God.

but when a sinful man chooses goodness, to break away from what his definition says that he is, that is in lack of a better word: a miracle.

so you are free: free to choose to live up to what they say you are, mediocre, underwhelming, or whatever they want to call you, or you can choose to deny yourself and what they want you to be and take up a cross and live to the beat of a new heart.

here's where I was wrong, I'm not someone who needs improvement, I am someone who needs to surrender. to unlearn pride, bitterness, hatred. to let the soul die and pay the price for my mistakes.

"only a bad person needs to repent, only a good person can repent perfectly"

I know how to love, because I was first loved by Him. I know how to show grace, because I was first shown grace. I dont know how to surrender, but God the father did not surrender for me.

God the Son did.

imagine a man, able to suffer and die, aligned with the perfection of God, choosing death in order to conquer it in glory.

this is a miracle, this is God's strength, this is all of the above.

this is perfection.

"the perfect submission, the perfect suffering, the perfect death were not only easier to Jesus because he was God, but were possible only because he was God"

 and now we are free.