Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives. Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever disappoint?
To neutralize the the serpent’s anti-God propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and repurposed it to offer us a contradiction.
Armageddon is here and now. We are not fighting for something in the hereafter. The battle is now. Now is the time to join Jesus in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the Valley of Tears facing off against Evil toe to toe, cheek to jowl. Christianity is not a sport for spectators. Christians partake in the fray.
Our solution to the problem of bitterness is different than God’s solution. We want God to remove the bitterness from the Valley of Tears or to remove us from the bitterness. God is of a different opinion (John 17:15). God wants us to dilute the bitterness of the Valley of Tears with love as sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Only by loving do we fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14).
