Salvation is free, and obedience is costly. Both are a part of faith, and the two do not contradict each other. What many see as contradictions in faith are simply paradoxical.

A paradox doesn’t pit two things together and prove one false and one true. A paradox is the pairing of two truths. The co-existence might not seem possible, but it is.

In today’s “bring it on” culture, we often stand our ground and declare another perspective is wrong. It’s oppositional from ours. Yet, when we are humble enough to listen and move our feet enough to consider another perspective, we often find a paradox of sorts. We will learn some things about our perspective that we need to reconsider, and we’ll learn some things from another perspective that we need to reconsider.

Truth doesn’t change; our pursuit of it changes us.

Unless you wrestle with some curiosities of faith you’ve kept in (or out of) a box for too long, you might be stunting your own growth.