There’s a scene in CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that I love. The lion Aslan, who represents Jesus, had just risen from the dead. And the children who saw him resurrected were asking how it was possible. Aslan responded: “though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know.”
It illustrates something about truth, but more importantly it illustrates something about our understanding of truth.
The truth of God is nearly impossible to grasp.
It’s not that truth is relative. It’s not relative. But our ability to understand the truth of God is limited. There are truths, but they are only true in the context of other truths. Was that sentence confusing? Exactly. But let me illustrate it a bit for you.
Salvation. As soon as we start relying on our own ability to live a good enough life, we lose the grace that God has given us. It’s like if you want to earn your salvation, God will let you try. That’s what Paul seems to say in Romans 11:22 – “[Note] God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” It’s only when we rely on the kindness of God that we get his kindness. But at the same time, our living a godly life is proof that we have accepted his kindness.
It’s almost a paradox. But it isn’t. It’s truth and the deeper truth.
When Jesus tells us not to judge others lest we also be judged (Matthew 7:1), I believe that’s another one of those truths/deeper truths. More than that, I believe we’re told not to judge because we’re horrible judges. We can never really grasp God’s truth. Things seem black and white to us, but we’re only seeing one side of the truth. We’re unable to grasp the depth of truth God understands.
Our responsibility: grace. We need to understand that we just don’t have all the facts. We see things as though through an obscured looking glass. We don’t get the clarity yet. So our responsibility is to have grace for others and to follow God’s leading. He won’t tell us what others need to know – only what we need to know. Have grace for others. Don’t be so quick to judge. But listen to God’s leading for you. His leading is perfect because he has all the truth. Even when things don’t make sense to us, we can trust his leading.