Theology of the Cross

We like comfort. We want to be rich, or at least keep our stuff. We want to hang onto our health and our happy family relationships. We don't want to suffer.

That's where we so often have problems with the Table of Duties where Romans 13 tells us about the government. It's hard for us to believe that God will "do good" if we're hurting or losing or dying.

Even though Pilate unjustly condemned an innocent Man to death, Pilate was "God's servant to do [Jesus] good." It doesn't look good to us who like comfort. But it was good.

We have a hard enough time distinguishing between punishments and chastisements and God's wrath as it is. Sinners don't want to believe that discomfort and loss can come from God. But it happened to Israel. It happened to Judah. It happened to Jonah. It happened to David. It happened to Jesus. And it will happen to us. If we were not so enamored with the theology of glory, it would be a lot easier to recognize that the call to repentance is a blessed thing. (Certainly that's easy enough to recognize when we're talking about it. Far harder to recognize when we're experiencing it.)