To hold on to the plough while wiping our tears—this is Christianity.
~Watchman Nee (1903-1972)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
~ from Revelation 21
Oh beloved, it is true. We have a road of time and stress and suffering and difficulty ahead of us. And it is really not the circumstances which are the worst of the obstacles along the way. There are these parts within us which must be removed and overcome. And this is the work He has begun in us, and will most surely finish.
And it hurts.
And still we move towards the Light.
Why?
Love.
As He slaughters that within us which would rebel against who He is, we begin to see something we never expected. Love is not an energy, energy being the capacity of a system to perform work. No, Love is a Force. Love is The Force, that which provides for energy to have an outlet. For it is Him, and the very Force which holds Himself together in unity of Trinity.
So, It seems to this fool of a writer that, G_d not only Loves us, but He does indeed Love Himself. This Love is not selfish, for it is a communion of three perfectly lovable and perfectly Loving Beings. And so, just as it is not wrong for a person to feel valued and loved, neither is it wrong for Him to feel and simply Live in the Love He is. And this Love is the very best Love, for it is not a love born of need or duty. Rather, it is simply Love – and nothing else.
And it is this profoundly Loving and profoundly Good and profoundly Powerful Person who has poured out all of who He is for us. And those of us who have tasted and seen the truth that He is The Truth and The Way and The Life are now simply compelled to move closer to Him.
We have come to understand that there are now no rules. Only Love. For Love covers a multitude of sins and drives us to want now to only do things that bring about true good for others.
We have come to see the deep deception of earthly riches. We now, in the light of True Love, see that the metal bits and bricks and trinkets and clothes we wanted are but kindling for the fire on the Great Day ahead of us.
We have come to simply know that nothing else really matters now. And in abandoning our own self interest, we for the first time, become a person relevant and powerful in our spheres of influence. For now, the power we project is not us, rather it is Him; and He is Love. And this Love blows away any sort of resistance. Nothing can stand against it.
And then, in our Spirit, He begins to show us the end of the story. This great Love with which He has Loved us, and does Love us – has a “and will forevermore Love us” in it as well. We are, to put it bluntly, to be made one with the One who is Love. We are to spend an eternity of eternities on an adventure in Him which will only seem to have ever started as we pursue the depth of an Infinite Heart of Love.
Can we see it? Everything we are looking for is at the center of His Great Heart. We fools are compelled to find His center. For we know, we simply know we will find it. There is nothing that will stop us from finding it – and we know it will take forever to get there.
Oh beloved, it is in knowing the end of the journey that we most truly share the Gospel. For the very good news of His work for us on the cross is not simply that He saved us from hell. Nor is it only that He has given us victory over sin and self. The gospel is bigger and better news even than this. We are to be the sons of G_d. We are to inherit a Kingdom of immeasurable wealth. We are to reign in a new Cosmos reigned by only one Law – Love. We are to receive everything we ever hoped for – and exceedingly more – from the One who has given context to value and provisioned its supply.
Almost Home beloved. Keep walking towards the Light. He is waiting for the adventure to begin.
