Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
~Martin Luther King Jr.
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
~The Encourager, writing in Hebrews 12
Oh beloved, it is true. We serve a G_d who is completely, utterly, totally and magnificently holy. The triplet usage of the word ‘holy’ in Scripture is not some sort of stuttering repetition. No, it is a form that goes beyond superlative. G_d is not “the most” holy. He is alone Holy. It is His Name.
i pray for the privilege to be able to speak His name properly one Day. Any attempts now to speak who He truly is now would shatter my tongue and mind alike. And beloved, if you think i don’t know what i am talking about. Keep digging into His Word and let His Spirit speak to you through it.
And there is an aspect of the holiness of G_d which we must take on, in order for our faith to work. This same G_d that we serve is utterly without need, and His soul (the very mind of G_d) has no thoughts of anger or disappointment at being treated unfairly. He is completely full and satisfied within Himself, and nothing can break the peace in The Prince of Peace.
Oh yes, He is angry, but none of this is caused by something weaker than Him making Him so. It is only (read for no other reason than) His Great Love that drives the passionate emotions He has to break down and slaughter anything that would keep us from Him. He will even destroy a people that they more might be saved. And fear not that His actions are unjust. All who are objects of His anger know that they have deserved it.
So, what does this have to do with us?
Everything.
We are being made like Him. We are to be made into His very likeness, and the likeness of G_d is a fully mature, newly created man or woman, who has no needs other than the One who has made him or her new. We, like G_d, are only dependent on G_d for our sense of identity.
G_d, being Triune, Lives and Moves and Has His Being within His boundless Self. The fully infinite Persons of The Trinity pour boundless Life and Light and Love into and through each Other. And Their infinite Love is the Force which binds them Together forever. They have no need, except for each Other. And that Love is so boundless that it pours out in rivers of Living Water through each and every believer made new in Him.
Can we see it? We need G_d alone. And when we finally understand this reality and allow it to live in us and through us, something deep happens within us. When we surrender any hope or grasp we have on any other supposed source of hope, and place our entire being at His disposal, we find that He does not toss us away – He sweeps us up into the Love Dance the Trinity has been dancing forever.
We find then, that bitterness has been rooted out of us. And the only way that this weed can begin to grow in us, is that we stop believing who we are. We are those who burn with the very Light of creation in our bosom. And the lamp of this Love can wane dim, but it is not because G_d withdraws, it is because we try to fuel the flame with fuels that can never (read ever) make it burn.
However, when we simply abide in the freedom He has bought for us, we find that we are drawn into something we never thought possible. As we move further out into the boundless fields of His Love and Grace, we feel more at home and covered and contained in His arms. From a distance it may look like fools like us are standing alone out in the field. But we are most surely not alone. We are only set apart into intimate fellowship with the One who has set us free.
So, are you feeling bitterness rise up within you? Don’t fight it. You will only pour contaminated fuel on the flame. Come away beloved. Tonight is your night. Remember who you are. You are being made like Him. You have no need but Him.
