Trying to be a better person by doing it all wrong!

Jesus loves to tell stories like those of the publican and the Pharisee and the famous one about the prodigal son*, in which one character does his life totally right and is, in fact wrong; and the other who does it totally wrong ends up God's beloved! Now deal with that! Jesus also tells us that there are two groups who are very good at trying to deny or avoid this humiliating surprise: those who are very "rich" and those who are very "religious."

 We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right.

 If there is such a thing as human perfection, it seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfection that is everywhere, especially our own. What a clever place for God to hide holiness, so that only the humble and earnest will find it! A "perfect" person ends up being one who can consciously forgive and include imperfection rather than one who thinks he or she is totally above and beyond imperfection....the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of the good.

 *Timothy Keller, in talking about the elder brother being incensed at a celebration for his prodigal brother, warns us that there are too many "elder brothers" in our churches--those holier-than-thou people who look down their noses at struggling and repentant sinners. See his book, Prodigal God.

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