Jesus is the Son of God, who comes from God and is at the same time true man. In him we meet not merely human genius and human heroism, but God, who becomes visible through him. One might say that in the body of Jesus, torn open on the Cross, we can see what God is like, that is, one who opens himself to us to this extent.
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In the end, we are making our feelings the measure for knowing who God is and how we should live. But feelings are changeable, and quite soon we come to realize for ourselves that we are building on treacherous foundations.
However obvious as a way forward that may seem at first
—there, again, I come across mere human ideas, which in the end remain dubious. The essence of faith, however, is that I do not meet with something that has been thought up, but that here something meets me that is greater than anything we can think of for ourselves.
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"God loved you first!" it says, in the teaching of Christ. And he loves you without respect for your origin or standing. What does that mean?
One should take this sentence as literally as can be, and I try to do that. For it is truly the great power in our lives and the consolation that we need. And it's not seldom that we need it.
He loved me first, before I myself could love at all. It was only because he knew me and loved me that I was made.
So I was not thrown into the world by some operation of chance, as Heidegger says, and now have to do my best to swim around in this ocean of life, but I am preceded by a perception of me, an idea and a love of me. They are present in the ground of my being.
What is important for all people, what makes their life significant, is the knowledge they are loved. The person in a difficult situation will hold on if he knows, Someone is waiting for me, someone wants me and needs me. God is there first and loves me. And that is the trustworthy ground on which my life is standing and on which I myself can construct it.
