Grace Upon Grace...and Huck Finn

It's Easter vacation!  Not only can I revel in the salvation that is mine because of Christ's death and resurrection, but I can also read at my leisure.  Currently I'm working my way through Dr. John Kleinig's, Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today.  Dr. Kleinig's clarity and scriptural insight is superb:

The problem is that those who lack the assurance of salvation fear and despise His Word because it reveals their guilt and makes them try to justify themselves before God.  Their uneasy conscience distorts their hearing of His Word and so prevents them from receiving His good gifts.  Since they take no delight in God's Word, they have little or no interest in it. The righteous, those who are sure of God's approval and depend on Christ for their salvation, delight in God's Word because it justifies them and brings the blessings of God to them as a free gift. For them, meditation is a joyful exercise of their faith in Christ; through it they receive the gifts of God and have Him do His work in them.

Another benefit to reading during vacation is that I don't feel the need to justify time spent reading works I won't use in my English classes...  However, this excerpt is exactly Huck Finn's dilemma.  Huck mocks Sunday School, flouts Miss Watson's description of heaven and hell and puts his faith in superstition   No wonder, he's so intent on helping free Jim.  He'd rather work on creating his own righteousness than "depend on Christ for" his salvation.

Oh, this excerpt from Dr. Kleinig makes for an excellent vacation read and an opportunity for my AP Language students.  Reading is truly the gift that keeps giving.