Gnats and Camels

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul certainly was trying to make a point, wasn't he? He didn't leave anything out. Or did he? He didn't explicitly say "us" or "you" or "me" in this list. I think he included it in his own mind. After all, St. Paul knew a thing or two about being your own worst enemy. He hated himself long before he ever hated the Church or I don't think he would have put so much effort into persecuting them before his conversion. Why else would a person follow another sect of their own religion around getting them killed? I think he was secretly jealous of their joy but that's another topic.

Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

I could bring a few charges against myself. I could bring a few against the Church. If God is the lawyer on the other side of the courtroom though--and the judge--I'm pretty much S.O.L. on making my case aren't I? Ultimately, it's God's law I'm upset at having offended, so I find myself at a loss for explaining why I should be condemned when I find myself standing before him with his arms (and eyes) wide open. He knows exactly who and what I am. He knows and he loves me. Not, he loves me anyway, he loves me. So I find myself at a loss for explaining exactly why he shouldn't.

I do. My "case" dissolves before my eyes.

I find people who practice "hardcore" Christianity to have missed the point. If I manage to behave myself, stop swearing, abstain from alcohol, smoking and sex, pray all the time, and tithe but I set my heart on making sure I don't give anything I don't have to or do anything for someone who doesn't deserve it, I miss the point. If my love for God is limited to my behavior toward him then it doesn't matter. How can you love God and hate your neighbor? What's the point in getting everything right if you don't get the big picture?

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!