As Tullian Tchividjian concludes Chapter 2 of One Way Love, he boldly states that a major goal of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, especially Matthew 5:17-48, is to clearly emphasize that whatever we think our greatest sin is, in reality it is much worse. Jesus equates action with motivation, so that any attempts at self-salvation projects are unmasked as a house of cards.
In other words, Pastor Tchividjian states, even the best things we do have some elements in them that need forgiveness. While we have a modicum of control over our actions, it’s much more difficult to defend our motivations. This, the author notes, is ironic:
” . . . our motivations- both our fears and our hopes- are universally bound up with our desire to be in control of our lives. . . . . The sad irony of our lives is that our desire to be in control almost always ends up controlling us.”
The pain and worry that characterizes our lives has its roots in our addiction to control. The question isn’t if that addiction will cause us to at foolishly and selfishly, but what happens when it does. As we come to the end of ourselves, we arrive at the beginning of grace. Pastor Tchividjian concludes:
“The great hope we find in the Christian faith is that God is not us.”
Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, in what areas of your life did you attempt to exert the most control? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The law of capability”
