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.
We contributed torture, suffering, killing and death to the boiling pot of his baptism. He contributed forgiveness. Into the boiling pot of his baptism, he poured in the sweet syrup of love. His contribution diluted the toxicity of the Valley of Tears in the same way that sugar cubes dilutes the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.
God sent us a Love Note to dilute the toxicity of the Valley of Tears. Jesus was the first drop. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. God wants us to become Love Notes like Jesus. He wants us to irrigate the Valley of Tears with love to turn it into the gardens of the new Eden here on earth. Our job is done here and now not hereafter and elsewhere. Our job is to pour the sweet syrup of love into the toxic brew held in the Valley of Tears.
God wants us to pour the sweet syrup of love into the bitterness of the Valley of Tears. Our perception of the solution to our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears is different than God’s. We want him to remove the bitterness. He wants us to dilute it. There is a difference in opinions. His prevails.
