By Martin Morrison
This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 25th of April 2020. Find the full article here
The word paradox is a seemingly absurd or contradictory proposition which, when investigated, proves to be true. The Christian faith is full of paradoxes.if it is anything, is a distinctively Christian concept. What on earth do I mean? According to Dale Ahlquist, there are two definitions to the word paradox and both are important. Firstly, a paradox is something strange, uncommon, the opposite of what we would expect. Secondly, it is two statements, both of which are true, but which absolutely contradict each other.
G.K. Chesterton the prince of paradox, made the following statements, which all seem so strange at first, but on reflection are absolutely so true:
- The self is more distant than any star
- Nature worship inevitably produces things that are against nature
- Charity to the deserving is not charity
- A man in peril can only save his life by risking it
- The book, “Beauty and the Beast” is the embodiment of the unreasonable maxim which says to every mother with a child, you must love the thing first and make it lovable afterwards
The Christian view of human nature is in fact rooted in paradox. Whilst animals are only body, man is both body and spirit at the same time. Our body comes from the dust of the earth and our spirit comes from the breath of God. What an extraordinary paradox before the fall! After the fall, we are still both body and spirit, but now an additional paradox has been added. We are both very great and very wretched at the same time:. Very great, in that we are still made in the image of God, however flawed. Very wretched, in that we have rejected our Creator and thereby rejected any lasting purpose in creation.
This is of course another paradox! When you reject the authority of the Creator and his Word, you don’t get freedom and fresh air. On the contrary, you become enslaved to your own little ego and its vanities. The very oxygen of life is sucked out of you. What’s the point?
I recollect that it was Pascal who said, that no philosophy or religion except Christianity has taught that man is born wretched. Which means that none has told the truth. It is only the truth that will set you free. It is only the truth that can find a way out of the darkness and thin air. As we’ll see, it is Christ alone who can lead us from wretchedness to happiness. It is Christ alone and the worship of Christ alone…Keep Reading