I was reading today on a website titled “Resurgence,” and this paragraph caught my attention.

“Both traditional religion and the new spirituality are forms of self-salvation. The religious way of being our own savior leads us to “keep” God’s laws, while the irreligious way of being our own savior leads us to “break” his laws. The solution is the gospel. The gospel shows us a God far more holy than a conservative moralist can imagine–for he can never be pleased by our mere moral performance. Yet it also shows us a God far more loving than the liberal relativist can imagine–for his Son bore all the weight of eternal justice. His love for us cost him dearly. Practically speaking, this means in our preaching we must be extremely careful to distinguish between general moral virtue and the unique humility, confidence, and love that flow from the gospel. I’m convinced we must learn carefully from Jonathan Edwards: “An experience of God’s grace is the only basis for ultimate and enduring … true virtue.”

———–

It’s interesting to me sometimes how I can get so introspective and think and analyze and discover and wrestle with Christianity and God and all these complexities, but then it all comes back to such simplicity at the same time.