It's scarcely a new insight , but it hit me with particular force yesterday: how good it can be to see the familiar from a new perspective. Visiting Naked Wayne at Case Western Reserve and catching up with his posts -- almost always interesting and engaging -- I came across this:



By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us--set us right with him, make us fit for him--we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand--out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise!



Strong words, and a powerful reminder, but unfamiliar to me. Not a new message, but a new path of hearing, a fresh way of seeing. It's the rendering of the first verses of Romans 5 in Eugene Peterson's The Message.