What then is God? Of the universe he is the final end; as to election, he is salvation; as to himself, he hath knowledge. What is God? Omnipotent will, virtue of highest benevolence, light eternal, reason unchangeable, highest blessedness; creator of minds to receive of his own fulness, imparting to them life to be conscious of him, prompting them to desire him, enlarging them to receive him, fitting them to be worthy of him, enkindling them with zeal, aiding them to yield fruit, directing them to equity, fashioning them to benevolence, tempering them for wisdom, strengthening them for virtue, visiting them for consolation, illuminating them for knowledge.
~Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
~ from Colossians 1
Oh beloved, it is true.
There is, going on around us, and in us a terrible storm. We are prone to be completely distracted by all of the stuff that is flying at us. And, it is true that we really are getting pummelled by so much of the airborne detritus.
The evil one only has a few weapons in his arsenal. They are exceedingly powerful in this plane. And so, if we do not know how to handle the onslaught, we may find ourselves in real trouble.
It does often feel that the attacks of the evil one are ramped up after Easter. Perhaps it is the temper-tantrums of demons who know that they should not have left their habitation. And so, they rage and spit over the remembrance of the event that guarantees that they will one day be completely forgotten.
There comes an understanding with all of this. And actually, it is glorious.
Evil is bound by its own worst enemy: Time. And all the stuff the devil flings in our direction really are bound by the same limitation. However, as lies are insidious, they can have some effect if we buy into them.
Lust is only that which tells us we have to have it now.
Anger is only that which attempts to control others immediately.
Doubt is taking such short view that we refuse to see a happy ending.
Fear is what happens when we take our eyes of The Eternal.
Can we see it?
The fruit and endurance and patience spoken of in the passage above do not have their roots in time. They come from receiving a completely different, spiritual – and thus eternal – perspective on things. And maybe this is why the devil and his minions are so angry this time of year.
The strength we receive is according to His glorious might. It is the same power that gave Him the power to walk up to death, a power even stronger than the devil himself (though he tried to coopt its power) – and to demand the keys.
So, it doesn’t matter how much a liar throws lies at us. They are still lies. And lies will run out of time. In fact, in many ways, they already have. We are, rather, people who already live in an eternal truth and are being prepared to inherit a Kingdom which will have no end.
And, in having no end, it will not be subject to the lying assaults of the one who currently assails us with his tantrums.
So again, are you feeling the heat of battle? One of the best truths to remember is that this battle will truly have an end. The liar is running out of time, and the fruit of your perseverance into eternal truth will forever outlast the storms you are now facing.
Tonight is your night beloved. Time to believe you are not bound by time. And, the storms are only going to produce eternal fruit!
FLY, envious Time, till thou run out thy race:
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet’s pace;
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain!
For, whenas each thing bad thou hast entombed,
And, last of all, thy greedy Self consumed,
Then long eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss,
And joy shall undertake us as a flood;
When everything that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With Truth, and Peace, and Love, shall ever shine
About the supreme Throne
Of Him, to whose happy-making sight alone
When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb,
Then, all this earthly grossness quit,
Attired with stars we shall forever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee,
O Time!
~ John Milton (1608-1674)
