the Love and Justice of God

You hear a lot about God's love.  That makes sense: it is unfathomably deep and extravagant and glorious.  You also hear of God's justice.  This, too, is for many good reasons: not only is God's justice a central theme of the entire Bible, it is something we all long for today.  Or do we?  Sometimes God's justice seems so hard, given how often we mess up.

Have you ever thought of how God's love and God's justice are related?

wisdom from Brother Lawrence

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence is a book I have been meaning to read for some time.  Written in the 1600's, this little gem consists of conversations with and letters by Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite in Paris.

Here is a profound thought I read this week that I want to share with you, partly to help me remember it.  

Brother Lawrence explained "that our sanctification did not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own."  (Fourth Conversation)

Now I'm sure you can think of exceptions to this, but that is not the point.  Applying this truth to our daily lives is a challenge, and one well worth undertaking, I think.