I love math.

Yes, I'm a total math geek. Math is the only subject for which I'd actually willingly do the homework for (inotherwords, without a teacher forcing me). I genuinely find math jokes funny (it's true). I think it's because math is structured. Math is logical. When you screw up a math test, it's not because suddenly the rules of math decided to change all the answers to '707' and asks you to look at it upside down; it's because you were careless somewhere, screwed up something, added when you were supposed to subtract, subtracted when you were supposed to add. Math is logical.

I think my brain works on logic. I think my brain likes logic.

Logic is easy. You learn the rules and they never change. it's structured, orderly, you know what to expect.

I think somewhere along the line God's trying to wean me off my dependence on logic.

If logic beat sin, my life would be so much easier.

'Lying hurts people. They feel betrayed because of misplaced trust that they put in you. It makes them less likely to trust you in the future. That makes it harder for you to maintain friendships.'

'Being selfish hurts people. By putting yourself as someone more important than everyone else, people recognise and begin viewing you as selfish. That lowers your chances of being relied upon, or having more opportunities to build friendships.'

'Being prideful is dangerous. People begin put more faith in your ability than it deserves, due to your boasting. When push comes to shove, you end up embarrassed at being unable to meet people's expectations.'

Logic can't beat sin friends. Every father that abuses his child knows somewhere that it's hurting his own offspring. Every young punk shooting up knows it's addictive, hurting his body.

Ever tried fighting off temptation with logic?

It's a lose-lose situation. More often than not, we choose to ignore logic and fall willingly choose the sin. When we do succeed in fending off the temptation, we just feel emptier. I've been there and I know the feeling. There is no victory in the logic of the self.

The truth is, logic can't beat sin. I can't think my way to being pure. I can't form a perfect mathematical formula that equals redemption.

Only God's grace does that.

And as usual, I'm learning that my logic isn't enough. In general, I'm not enough. But His grace, His freely given grace is. His grace trumps sin, trumps logic.

Sin laughs at the logic we come up with; it trembles at the sound of the Father's voice.

So :) to sum it up

sin > logic
but
God's grace > sin

it also follows that

God's grace > sin > logic

(there's the math for ya)