Paul says that Abraham is righteous not because of his goodness or virtue or morality, but because God reckons him righteous. God makes Abraham righteous by grace.This is why, to quote Paul again, the Law brings wrath but the Gospel sets free. Doing all of the right things and knowing all the right people and making all the right choices can’t make us right. We all fall short of the glory of God, we all waver, we all mess up, we all neglect to do the things we should and we tend to do a bunch of things we know we shouldn’t. We’re not a bunch of good people getting gooder all the time. We’re actually a bunch of humans (who by definition make mistakes) who just happen to have the good fortune of a community that says we are welcome simply because we are who we are.It never ceases to amaze me how weird and wonderful the church is. There is nowhere else you can find a more truthful community of people who are willing to see more than the world sees, who are willing to put our trust in the only One who can actually do anything about anything...