Our Conception of Rescue Differs from His Conception of Rescue
In the valley of tears, our predicament is dire. As we pass through the valley of tears, many and merciless are the crosses that nail themselves to us including the worst of crosses, death. We are in trouble. We need help. However, we cannot rescue ourselves. The good news of great joy is that God is executing his plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the valley of tears. However, it is God's plan not ours. And his conception of rescue is different than our conception of rescue (Isaiah 55:8-9).
We want God to eliminate the crosses that nail themselves to us as we pass through the valley of tears. We want God to transform the valley of tears into a kinder, gentler and more hospitable place for godless people to live. The ship of godlessness, however, is sinking. God does not want to save the ship. God wants to save the passenger. God wants to transform godless people into people of God. The means by which God transforms godless people into people of God is the challenge of the cross. The challenge of the cross is the agent of transformation. Therefore, God does not eliminate our crosses. God challenges us to to pick them up and carry them (Matthew 16:24-26).
God's pedagogy is severe because the truth is severe.. The horned truth of the valley of tears is not for sissies. Passing through the valley of tears is not for wimps.
Why does God want us to pick up and carry our crosses instead of just eliminating them for us?
What is the benefit derived from picking up and carrying our crosses?
What is the "strength" that enables us to pick up carry our crosses?
There is only one way and one way alone by which we can pick up and carry our crosses. Only when we cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go can we pick up and carry our crosses. Love transforms us into superman. God wants us to become superman. God wants us to fill our hearts with love. When we love, we maintain our resemblance to God. The greater the love we hold in our hearts, the greater the resemblance we bear to God. When we fill our hears with love, deification takes place.
Jesus hung from his cross to teach us how to hang from ours. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, our crosses' invincible foe.
God wants us to grab hold of the life preserver of love, cling to it, hold tight and refuse to let go - to cling to it with the iron grip of a drowning man tossed overboard into the stormy sea after his ship is sunk. However, beasts are ruled by instinct. Our instinct instructs us to let love slip through our fingers when crosses nail themselves to us. We struggle mightily against grabbing hold of the life preserver of love. We rebel against our own salvation. We would rather drown than rescue ourselves.
Survival, however, requires that we deny ourselves. Survival requires that we disregard the instructions that our animal instinct is sending to us. When we let our crosses strip us of love, they strip us of any resemblance that we bear to God. This is defeat. The victory is in denying ourselves. The victory is in resistance. The victory is in defiance. The victory is in refusing. The victory is in telling our crosses to go f#@% themselves. The victory is in grabbing the life preserver of love, clinging to it, holding tight and refusing to let go.
P.S. Love kicks suffering's ass.
The economy of paradise is based on the currency of love. With ordinary currency, the more we spend, the poorer we get. It is a paradox, but, by spending the currency of love, we grow rich. The more we spend, the richer we get. The most Holy Trinity dispatched the Son of God from heaven to earth to introduce us to the currency of love and to establish the economy of paradise here and now upon the earth.
Note: A proper understanding of rescue informs our prayers and how we interact with our crosses. Although we can pray to God to eliminate our crosses, 'tis better to pray for the "strength" to pick them up and carry them. Instead of bitching and moaning about our crosses, 'tis better to apply our "strength" to pick them up and carry them.
Note: The Cross is not God's invitation to us to suffer with him. The Cross is God's invitation to us to love with him. God does not want the crosses that nail themselves to us to stall our escape through the valley of tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land. God wants us to pick up our crosses and carry them to the finish line. The only way to pick up and carry our crosses is to love.
Divinization by Defiance
Christianity is not for wimps
The valley of tears is hostile territory. Our enemies lurk in every nook and cranny of the valley of tears waiting to nail us to a cross including the most terrible of crosses, death. As we pass through the valley of tears, we pass through an inferno . Yet, our God, allegedly our almighty lover, does not extinguish the fire. Nor does he extract us from it. Nor does he lower its heat. Our God watches us burn in the flames (and burned with us on Golgotha). He wants us to run the course and finish the race
despite the savage hostility of our circumstances.
Why?
Doesn't the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears suggest that our God is our foe instead of our friend - that, perhaps, God does not even exist? Yes. Indeed, it does. That is the implication. But only to those who are ignorant of his rescue plan. The serpent delights at our dire predicament in the valley of tears. God, our almighty lover, does not. The serpent cooperated with us to put us into the valley of tears. God, our almighty lover, lets us stew in the valley of tears but for no longer than a lifetime in order to transform us into God - to divinize us.
God's conception of rescue is different than our conception of rescue
The ship of godlessness is sinking. We want God to save the ship. But God only wants to save the passengers. He has no interest in saving the ship. His only interest is in saving the passengers.
To save the passangers, he hands out life preservers of love. Life preservers of love are his method of salvation. But, it is up to us to grab hold of them. Our salvation depends on grabbing hold of them.
The pedagogy of the valley of tears is severe. We struggle mightily against grabbing hold of the life preserver of love. We rebel against our own salvation. We would rather drown than rescue ourselves. We harbor within us a natural, animalistic instinct that instructs us to let love slip through our fingers in moments of adversity. When our enemies nail us to our crosses, the experience tends to transmogrify us into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts.
But, by letting evil strip us of love, evil strips us of any resemblance that we bear to God. Refusing to grab hold of the life preserver of love is contrary to our self-interest. It is self-destructive. It is suicidal.
God does not want our crosses to interfere with our progress back to our home with him in paradise. He does not want our crosses to stop us dead in our tracks in the middle of hostile territory. He wants us to pick up our crosses and carry them as the United States Marines raised the United States flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. There is one way and one way alone to pick up and carry our crosses. We need to deny ourselves. We need to deny our natural, animalistic instinct that instructs us to loosen our grip on love.
Only love enables us to deny this perverse animalistic instinct. Therefore, the most Holy Trinity sent us the Son of God to show us how to grease the wheels of our passage through the valley of tears. At Calvary, he put on a demonstration of love - he clung to love, held tight and refused to let go - to show us that the technology of applying love to our crosses works. On the Cross, he showed us that it is possible to to deny our natural, animalistic instinct to fumble the ball of love
The passage through the valley of tears is God's challenge to us to manifest Christian heroism. God wants us to defy the fire. The only way to defy the fire is by loving our way through it. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, suffering's invincible foe. Love is our act of defiance. By loving, we point the middle finger at the fire.
When we defy the fire, we become God - divinization takes place.
God's Conception of Rescue
God could have abandoned us to the monsters that prowl for us in the valley of tears. He could have let us eat the fruit of our folly. He could have said, "goodbye and good riddance." But he did not. God devised a plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the valley of tears. His conception of rescue, however, is different than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). Indeed, godlessness is a sinking ship. God, however, does not want to save the ship. God wants to save the passengers. Therefore, God has no interest in turning the valley of tears into a better, more hospitable place for godlessness people to live. Nor does God plan our immediate extrication from the valley of tears. God thinks it important that we complete our passage through the valley of tears. He wants us to run the course and finish the race (2 Timothy 4:7). He wants the grist to go through the mill. So God lets us stew in the sourness of godlessness.
The Ship of Godlessness is Sinking
Godlessness is a sinking ship (Mark 4:35-39). We are its passengers. The Church is its crew. God, however, does not care about the ship. God is not interested in making godlessness into a better, more hospitable place for godless people to live. Yet, we want God to save the ship. God, however, just wants to save the passengers. God wants to transform godless people into people of God. God wants us to exhume the corpse of godlessness that is poisoning us as it rots in our hearts (Matthew 24:28). Eliminating the crosses that nail themselves to us as we pass through the valley of tears does not accomplish his purpose. Only by picking up and carrying the crosses are we saved (Matthew 16:24-26). Only by clinging to love, holding tight and refusing to let go of love can we pick up and carry our crosses. Love transforms us into superman. God wants us to become superman.
Thereforre, the cry of of the Church is "To the lifeboats! To the lifeboats! Abandon ship! Abandon ship!" Join the new exodus that is making its escape through the valley of tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his holy family in the promised land.
The Miracle God Prefers is to Change The Person not the Circumstances
The pedagogy of God is severe. The valley of tears is hostile territory. In the valley of tears, our predicament is dire. We stew in the valley of tears for a lifetime. Our dire predicament in the valley of tears provokes screams for rescue. Rescue us, Oh Lord!
His conception of rescue, however, is different than our conception of rescue.
God prefers the "little rescues" that transform us than the "big rescue" that transforms our circumstances. He prefers that we learn to manage adversity. We prefer that he eliminates adversity. There is a difference in opinions. His prevails.
Instead of calming the storm , he lets the storm rage. Without the storm, we would have no challenge to overcome. To rescue us, he tosses to us life preservers of love. He desires that we cling to them with the iron grip of the drowning man who clings to a life preserver in the stormy sea after his ship is sunk. Tossing us life preservers of love while the storm is raging is his method of salvation. Without them, the ride through the valley of tears is rough - extraordinarily rough.
Therefore, pray for the rescue that God wants to give you. Pray not for the end of the storm but for a life preserver of love and the strength to hold on to it. Grab hold of it. Your salvation depends on grabbing hold of it. Ride out the storm by clinging to a life preserver of love!