Where would you place yourself on a scale from "sinner" to "righteous"?

Sinner __________ Not too bad __________ Good __________ Righteous

Maybe it depends—some days we might feel more sinful, while others, perhaps, we feel closer to righteous. But the reality is, as Christians, we are both sinners and righteous at the same time. This can be a challenging reality to keep in view.

Over these last few weeks I’ve been reading a book called “Both / And” by Gary Millar, which dives into the great paradoxical truths of the bible. One that intrigued me is that we are both righteous and sinners at the same time.

I had a severe case of whiplash on Monday this week.

We had a massive Sunday where there was so much to celebrate in the life of our church. 

• The joy of new life in Jesus celebrated through the baptisms of many of our brother and sisters in Christ at Wellington City and at the beach in Island Bay. (Also followed by a church swim!)

• The privilege of welcoming dozens of new people into our church community across all three of our congregations with Hutt running its first Newish Dinner and Night Church welcoming a bunch of new students with Sundae Sunday.

• The encouragement of seeing people maturing and stepping up to serve across our whole church, even at personal cost. 

How have you found our summer in the book of Colossians?

A highlight and verse I’ve been dwelling on is Colossians 1:28-29:

“He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”

When I was learning to ski I remember crashing into a tree. It was strange because there was a nice wide run, with plenty of space, and yet the lone tree seemed to be like a magnet, drawing me in until eventually I was face down in the snow and wondering where my ski had gone.

After I had brushed myself off and retrieved my ski from 50m down the slope, the instructor told me the key to avoiding the tree. Don't look at it! He said, ‘Where ever you look is where you will end up going. If you don’t want to hit the tree, don’t look at it!'