It's a balancing act

Do you ever feel that you're being pulled in two opposite directions at the same time?

Sometimes when we read the Bible it seems as if we are being asked to accept two things as true even though it appears that these two things are mutually exclusive. What we are left with is what some people call 'creative tension' as we try and hold onto both ideas at the same time.

A couple of Sunday's ago we were looking at Romans 11 in our morning service and one of the things we looked at was Paul's image of the olive tree with some branches cut off and other branches grafted in.

New branches grafted into an old root

Paul wants the Gentile Christians in Rome to see that they have been grafted in because of the grace of God - but there is a word of caution too. If they become arrogant and start to live any way other than faith in Jesus there is a danger that they may be cut off once again.

And so we hold these two ideas in tension - we are saved by grace, but we are required to work out our salvation. We trust in God, but we keep a careful check on our own thoughts and attitudes and behaviour.

It's the balance between the kindness and the sternness of God that Paul talks about. When we start to swing too far one way or the other we lose our balance and fall over.