I’m saddened, that in your right hand and mine, we both hold the power of The Holy Trinity, of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. In your left; a weapon intended against myself and those I reach for. In my left; a weapon intended against misinformation, anger, hatred and the part of the self we all need to cast out in order to become truly human, as children of the same creator.
My mouth has run against you in what should have been privacy. Still, my words have become partly at fault for slamming doors between us. But whatever words and mistakes of mine you’ve seen and heard, God sees that you have used and made your own. He sees reason to mark your deeds, right and wrong, the way He has marked mine. That’s neither a threat nor a rebuttal, but an invitation to common ground that starts with our similarities and ends with weapons dropped and right hands clasped together.
The wisest people move away from the throws of human judgement, handing the task to God and learning to engage in the system He created; one of forgiveness, empathy and inclusiveness. It’s a common view that there is danger in doing so, that by giving up our race to gain the most control, we also give up the work we’ve done in self protection gained by the damage of others. I don’t know much about this universe, but I can bank on the knowledge that such a race is never won. It’s been going on for millennia and none of its runners have earned more than a grave, each competitor only to be replaced by the next.
At some point in our lives, we all try to send out the message that our brain is the biggest, our moves are the most cunning and our grounds are the most protected. At some point after that, we all realize our vulnerability and our mortality. I’m saddened for the ones who gain that the knowledge too late, with just enough time to realize it, but not enough to outlive it.
What I can tell you is this, that the system I mentioned that God built, it works. It transcends our pride, our fear and our anger. Christ died in part that we may engage forgiveness of each other and the offenses that we all take so personally. When we take a leap of faith toward each other and away from what we we're falsely lead to believe is a safety zone, we grow as all life grows properly, from the inside outward.
What we have to do is drop the face that tries to intimidate, drop the false sense of safety found in working against God, drop the weapons that we cling to in the hopes of safety, and just trust... trust enough to take a leap of faith. It’s the only way to end a race that no one will ever win. Instead of bringing replacement after replacement, younger stronger flesh to the grinder, we would realize the sacrifice of Christ, which we deny every time we strike out toward each other.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, this can be done. I know because, at one time, within me was pitted one part against the other like enemies in a ring, warriors on either side of a battle line. Outside of me was a constant barrage of bad information, saturating me until my spirit could no longer see God’s will.
The right in me was against the wrong; no forgiveness, no empathy, no inclusiveness. That internal war went on for decades, even in childhood. Later in life I saw the beginning of the end of that war, only because I gave it up and opened my heart to God’s way. I let the best in me forgive the worst. The most loved in me learned to stand on the same ground as the most hated.
God taught me that such war is endless, hopeless and useless. And just as I have the potential to be a reflection of God, as he originally created me in his image, my internal struggle is a reflection of the struggle between all humans in the world. It’s the struggle of the spirit that drives the machine, the soul inside the body. The struggle for that spirit to overcome itself before it can overcome the world. And so I remind you of God's offer, the only way to end that struggle, if not for the world, then just for yourself.
Start hearing the voice of your soul, the cry to let go of the race and let God take over, the cry to put God first and let everything else fall into place. Then instead of seeing each other from inside the sniper scope, we would see you and I on common ground, as part of God and nothing else. Through His Son, He has prepared for you and I, His gifts. They are for those who gather the courage to leap from one side to the other; rewards that enrich a life far beyond recognition, physical pleasure, money or influence. They include eternal life, truth, calm and wisdom; the end of exhaustion, the end of the race, and finally... the gift of fellowship.
Have you read the first three articles in this series?