They're Both There

While my theological excavations have been somewhat lacking of late, I came across a recent post by Steven Furtick, from the middle of his church-wide undertaking of the entire New Testament in 30 days. He is talking about how often opposing theological viewpoints are both to be found in Scripture. He says,

The sovereignty of God…
and the free will of man.
They’re both in the Bible.

God’s promise to prosper and bless His children…
and the certainty of hardship and suffering in the life of a believer.
They’re both in the Bible.

The mandate to preach the Gospel…
and the responsibility to care for the poor.
They’re both in the Bible.

And he's right. While as a reformed individual, I would like to take the more conservative of each of these viewpoints, I cannot deny the prevalence of seemingly contradictory opposing viewpoints in scripture.

I am often tempted to smooth over those that support free will or social gospel, to explain them away while consolidating and re-affirming the validity of Ephesians 1-2 or Romans 8.

Why do I do this? Easy as pie: because I'm a prideful, arrogant pr*ck. Why do so many people do this? Because pride is #1 favorite pastimes of those who claim humanity as their species of choice. I want to be right, you want to be right, we all want to be right. Except for Jesus, because he is right.

I have been coming to a prolonged epiphany that there is more to God than I used to know. (Surprise, surprise!) Now, I still hold firmly to reformed theology, but I am beginning to see how an unyielding grasp to doctrine often results in an unwillingness to do God's work--namely, loving people.

...more to come in this train of thought at a later date.