You. Me. Us. Part 1 “Saints and Sinners” THRIVE Service Livestream

You. Me. Us. Part 1 "Saints and Sinners" THRIVE Service Livestream

James Parton was asked to write the biography of President Andrew Jackson. It proved to be a difficult task. Andrew Jackson was an apparent bundle of contradictions. Wrestling with all the contradictions, he wrote the introduction to Jackson’s biography using these words:

“Andrew Jackson, I am given to understand, was a patriot and a traitor. He was one of the greatest of generals, and wholly ignorant of the art of war. A writer brilliant, elegant, eloquent, and without being able to compose a correct sentence, or spell words of four syllables. The first of statesmen, he never devised, he never framed a measure. He was the most candid of men and was capable of the profoundest dissimulation. A most law-defying, law-obeying citizen. A stickler for discipline, he never hesitated to disobey his superior. A democratic aristocrat. An urbane savage. An atrocious saint.”

An atrocious saint.

Jesus tells a parable about weeds and wheat.

We all live with weeds. Sometimes, we are the weeds. Sometimes we’re the bundle of contradictions.

Life brings out the best and worst in all of us. We can be saints and just as easily be sinners. We are capable of incredible acts of kindness, compassion, and grace. We can also inflict unimaginable harm on others.

We are a mix; we are a mess.

And Jesus tells a story about the day God will sort it all out.

It’s a story we all need to hear.

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