Going Straight Through the Curves

If we must construct the soul out of the elements, there is no necessity to suppose that all elements enter into its construction; one element in each pair of contraries will suffice to enable it to know both that element itself and its contrary. By means of the straight line we know both itself and the curved – the carpenter’s rule enables us to test both – but what is curved does not enable us to distinguish either itself or the straight. – Aristotle “Psychology” – Book I

Man, looking at nature, sees very few straight lines. The straight line is an abstraction, the perfected among approximations. The line exists; everything strives toward it.

What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. ... So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. -- Romans 7:7,12 (emphasis in original).

Sometimes I see very little good in the world. I see lies and evil flourishing, deception as the order of the day, and selfishness exalted.

Yet, just as tree seeks to grow straight and emulate an ideal line, so the heart of man seeks after moral perfection – the abstraction of the law, the ideal of truth.

The tree grows to seek maximum sunlight and so, because of the circumstances, it will get a little bent. Down in the wooded gully here, there is a little oak that is fighting its way up among the other trees. You can see over the twenty or so years that it has existed how the environment has changed. First it grew away from one larger tree, then, as it grew taller, it was forced to grow away from a more massive tree on the other side, resulting in an S-curve over about a third of its height.

I can see that because I know there is such a thing as a straight line. My eye imposes that straight line over the tree and I see what has happened. The tree “knows” about the straight line as well and it gets back to it whenever it can. But its life comes from the sun and it must obey a higher law in order to survive.

Those who would call Christ a great moral teacher or the Bible a collection of great moral thoughts must beware of this point. Those things are true and morality is necessary; the human soul seeks to attain it. Nevertheless, it is not the source of life.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.

Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. -- Romans 7:24,25;8:1 (emphasis added)

The moral law is not suspended. It still governs the flesh, just as the ideal line still governs the tree’s growth pattern. Life remains a struggle with the old nature, with circumstances, environment, even the demonic.

The good news is that there is a higher law that gives life. I may get a little bent along the way, but, as long as I am seeking the Son, I’ll be straight in the end.

Above that S-curve in the oak’s trunk, it found the opening it was seeking. From there it shoots straight up, triumphant, in the full light of the sun.

That will be me someday.