Our side by side had to be hauled out of Jim's Creek a few weekends back - long story. And if you've ever been towed before, you too know a bit about tension. There's a sweet spot, right? Too much slack in the line, and there's a big yank every few seconds. But alternatively, too much tension is going to result in a broken tow strap. It's important to sit in that sweet spot, where there's just enough tension to pull the weight.

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Tension in our faith can be a bit like that. When we lean too much into the tensions, to the point of obsessing over them with a fervent need to fully understand, we risk letting the tensions snap our growing faith. Alternatively, if we ignore the tensions that certainly do exist when it comes to matters of faith, not leaning into them enough, we may find ourselves getting slapped in the face with a surprise, disorienting shake-up to our worldview when we finally can't ignore that tension any longer. So what's that middle-of-the-road sweet spot? It's the tension of trust.

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We see one such tension in Romans 8: "Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness" (vs. 10, HCSB). How could I be both dead and alive? How could my body be anchored in the mire of sin, but my spirit be as alive as a kite on the wind?

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You might have heard of the theological concept of the "already, not yet." It's the reality that, because of Jesus' victory over death on the cross, the Kingdom is here, but also, it's coming. It's the war being won, but the battle still raging. It's new life in Christ, and yet we still feel the pang of death on our reality. Do you feel that tension today? What's weighing you down, even as your spirit seeks to soar?

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Whatever it is, bring it to Jesus this morning in prayer, choosing to pursue that sweet spot of trusting him with this tension.