“In the gospel are we liberated to experience simultaneously fall and redemption, crucifixion and resurrection, brokenness and triumph”

Dane Ortlund reminds us that the Christian life is one of, simultaneously, brokenness and triumph:

Brokenness without triumph is Eeyore-ish gloom that emphasizes the fall to the neglect of redemption, crucifixion to the neglect of resurrection. It is personally under-realized eschatology.

Triumph without brokenness is Buzz Lightyear-ish naïveté that emphasizes redemption to the neglect of the fall, resurrection to the neglect of crucifixion. It is personally over-realized eschatology.

The gospel gives us the only resource to look our brokenness squarely in the face, downplaying nothing, overlaid with—not in competition with—unspeakable victory. Both together.

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In the gospel are we liberated to experience simultaneously fall and redemption, crucifixion and resurrection, brokenness and triumph….As any seasoned saint will attest, the strange way God brings us to treasure this triumph is through, not by circumventing, present brokenness. But brokenness is never an end, only a means. There is no brokenness in the first two chapters of the Bible and none in the final two chapters.

Read the whole thing.