Our loving God, in his mercy, took steps to mitigate the toxicity of the Valley of Tears. The sweet truth mitigates the sourness of godlessness. It blunts the sharp edges of the crosses that besiege us as we pass through the Valley of Tears.
1) God made life brief. The brevity of life proves the mercy of God. A philanthropic God puts an upper limit - a lifetime - on our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Life is but an infinitesimally thin slice of time compared to the thickness of eternity. Setting an upper limit on our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears was the first things God did to mitigate the direness of our predicament.
2) God sent us a Love Note to dilute the toxicity of the Valley of Tears in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. In the fullness of time, God sent his Son to drop a bombshell of revelation into the Valley of Tears. He dropped the bombshell on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection (Luke 9:31). Its explosion illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (John 1:5) (Psalm 43:3). In a dramatic demonstration of divinity that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus showed us that God is head over heals in love with us. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we catch a glimpse of the beatific vision - at least as close to it as possible this side of the Red Sea of death.
3) Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Despite the evil we did to him, He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Therefore, when you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe. Like Jesus, fill your hearts to the brim with love (Matthew 6:30 - 33) so you can fill the space you occupy with love. Only love kicks sufferings a@@.
