We tell a double story about sin in the church. You sin because of Adam and Eve. When you sin, there are consequences for it. Parent your kids harshly? There will be a cost. Demonstrate unfaithfulness, selfishness, or pride? At some point, it will catch up to you in some way, big or small.
At the same time, we proclaim that by grace we have been saved through faith and not by our works so that no man can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). God wants us to know that we weren’t reconciled by anything we’re capable of achieving on our own.
We have victory over sin, but we’re going to keep sinning and dealing with the consequences of that sin.
So where does that leave us?
I was reading something online recently, and the website did that thing where instead of a list of links at the bottom of the page, they have the next article right underneath the first. It’s just there waiting for you, and you can see it before you’re even done reading the first article. The bait article was a list of celebrity memoirs you just have to read.
I’ve read a few memoirs, but they aren’t my favorite genre. I’m not into celebrity culture or the lives of famous people. Being famous sounds like my worst nightmare, so why would I want to read about someone else’s experience with it?
But one of the top images in the bait article was the cover of This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare, by Gabourey Sidibe (gei·br·ee si·duh·bei). I’ve heard the name before, but I’ve never seen any of her work. I just saw her face on the cover and thought, I have to read that book.
Last year, I shared some of the books we read for Black History Month. Really, Black History Month is every month at our house. But if it isn’t a part of your everyday reading material, make a little extra effort in February (which starts tomorrow!) to include titles that will expand your mind and refresh you (or even teach you something new). Here are some of my picks.
I found out about this lovely book by Jack Kornfield in the list of resources that was provided to us after my retreat. I got a library copy, then ended up getting a copy to keep because the book was so good. I gave it to the Chaplain to read and kept reading my library copy, which meant I couldn’t mark up the pages like I wanted to. This is another book I want to read more than once, so I will mark up our copy on the second read.
What made this book so good?
When I was an older kid, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle was my favorite book. I loved the subtle, almost platonic romance between Meg and Calvin. I loved the way ideas about God, good and evil, scale, science, and truth were woven into the story.
The book was imaginative. The protagonist was a misfit who was still learning to be comfortable with being different. I read it a number of times in my tweens and early teens, and consumed all of L’Engles other books as well. While I enjoyed all of them, A Wrinkle in Time remained my favorite.
