There’s a comfort  humans obtain accomplishing recurring tasks. We get up at the same time each morning, we make our bed, we make ourselves a cup of coffee, we get prepared for the day, choosing the clothing we’re going to wear carefully. We go to work; we arrange our desk or arrange our toolbox and our pickup truck. We set out to do the tasks of the day. We come home that evening we plan and prepare an evening meal, check our email, text messages, check WhatsApp, and settle in to rest. We all have recurring tasks that we do to build structure to our day.

JI Packer said – Suppose I try to take the Ten Commandments seriously, and live by them, what will happen? Every day I will fail somewhere. Now, what am I to do? The answer is: now that you know your own weakness and sinfulness, you turn to God. Then turn to his Son Jesus Christ to obtain pardon and power. Christ will bring you into a new kind of life, in which your heart’s deepest desire will be to go God’s way, and obedience will be burdensome no longer.

1 Corinthians 10:23-33 says –I have the right to do anything—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat … without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, … for the sake of … the other person’s conscience, not yours. … If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God … For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they [all] may be saved (NIV).

I think the completed Jews who were part of the church in Corinth were struggling. They liked the comfort of offering sacrifices, of circumcision, of showing up at a place on a regular basis to meet with friends, the public prayers, adherence to the rules, proper selection of food, the whole thing that had become their old covenant walk with God. The gospel redeems us from all those kinds of activities. Not everyone is ready for that kind of freedom. Some of us still need the comfort of reoccurring activities. I make my coffee every morning, I make my bed every morning, I plan my day, make a list if it’s complicated, and then set out to do the list. I choose to live a structured life in my retirement.

Imagine what it was like the first time a converted Jew sat down at a dinner table and consumed pork. They were waiting for a bolt of lightning to strike them dead. Pretty scary stuff for them. We should love those people as best we can who cling to the old law. They need that structure. But, in time, they will come to understand the beauty and power of Jesus. They will embrace their freedom.

JI Packer said – Grace is God’s love in action toward people who merited the opposite of love. Grace is God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who cannot lift a finger to save themselves. Grace is God sending his only Son to the cross to descend into hell and leap back out of Hell so that we, the guilty ones, might be reconciled to God and received into heaven.

Even Karl Barth (a modern agnostic theologian) is worthy of our love. God made him. Confused as Karl is, God made him. We can do no other thing than love Karl. We don’t have to agree with him. We certainly don’t have to adopt his worldview. But we are wise to love him as a person. You never know when you’re going to bump into a ‘Karl’ who really needs Jesus. Why? Because their despair is overwhelming. They need our help. They need God’s grace. IF God can love them then so should we.

I choose Jesus.