When you endeavor to meet the Savior and pledge your whole soul to Him, He will introduce you to your greatest weaknesses and your biggest fears. He will demand that you cast off your every sin and sinful desire.
For His namesake, He will threaten your occupation, livelihood, savings and career. He will plumb the very depths of your soul and tug at your tenderest heartstrings. He will find where your dearest treasure lies...and ask for it. He will subject you to the cruelest ironies and the greatest hoaxes and hypocrisies. He will introduce you to your own Judas Iscariot and invite you to take him/her under your wing, only to be betrayed. He will ask you to do the unthinkable: to go against natural inclination, social convention, even "orthodox" religious practice. By following Him, you will be sold, as it were, for 30 pieces of silver. You will lose friends and be estranged from family. You will be crushed to the ground. Your reputation will be in tatters. You will be despised and rejected of men, the subject of ridicule and scorn. Your name will be spoken of for evil. Those religious types who persecute you will think they are doing God a favor. And, in return, you will be asked to lower your weapons, not revile again, nor defend yourself.
In fact, you will be required to bless those who curse you and do good to them who hate you, despitefully use you and persecute you. You will be asked to forgive all men their every trespass, to practice The Golden Rule, to give to them who ask of you, and from those who have not to turn not away, but strive to make yourself (with them) equal in all things.
It will tear you apart.
Precisely.
This is the only way you can be purged and cleansed from all your sins. Your follies must be exposed, acknowledged and corrected. You must gain knowledge that will enable your salvation. You must learn not to trust in the arm of flesh or place your confidence in any man (or woman) to save you.
You must learn there is no one else to turn to...or to obey...but Him; that it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks or says...but Him.
He will have no other gods before Him.
You have spoken truly as one who has seen it.
ReplyDeleteLove ya brother.
James Russell Uhl