ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

 

 “We talk about our trials and troubles here in this life, but suppose that you could see yourselves thousands and millions of years after you have proved faithful to your religion during the few short years in this time, and have obtained eternal salvation and a crown of glory in the presence of God; then look back upon your lives here, and see the losses, crosses and disappointments, the sorrows arising from disobedient children, from wicked parents who have opposed their children who wished to embrace the truth, the persecutions from city to city, from state to state, being hunted and driven, you would be constrained to exclaim: ‘But what of all that? Those things were but for a moment, and we are now here. We have been faithful during a few moments in our mortality and now we enjoy eternal life and glory with power to progress in all the boundless knowledge and through the countless stages of progression, enjoying the smiles and approbation of our Father and God, and of Jesus Christ our elder brother.” (Brigham Young, Teachings of Presidents of the Church)

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.”  (1 Timothy 4:7,8)

I would rather be a vessel in Your hand

Than a crowned king on earthly throne;

I would rather be a bird in flight

Without a shelter to keep me warm;

I would rather cross the oceans

And go where you would want me to go

Than sit contented never knowing

the trail that leads me home.

- CATHRYENE ALLEN

(Art: Guiding Them Home by Yongsung Kim)

CROWNS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

The most famous of Paul’s motivational and inspirational utterances has been: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).  Indicating that he had a personal assurance that his election and calling was made sure and that he will inherit eternal life, he followed that statement by saying: “henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (v8). What is the faith that Paul kept that assured him of eternal life? Throughout his epistles to early members of the Church, Paul reiterated over and over that the path to eternal life is not the law of Moses as so many converted Hebrews still clung to, and not any law, but Jesus Christ and His gospel, the adherence to which grants us His mercy and grace, the path to all salvation, after all that we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).

Today we tend to view the Gospel as the gospel of limitations or the gospel of liberty. I have heard it said: “I just couldn’t live with all those restrictions”. Needless to say, that view was derived from the desire to follow the world. How we view the Gospel lies in what rewards we want. Those who want the rewards of this life view it as the gospel of limitations and abandon its standards and commandments through the delusion that they will have freedom. If we want the rewards of eternal life, then the Gospel’s standards and commandments are viewed as the gospel of liberty because it saves us from spiritual death.

I am often surprised how some people do not learn by the consequences of their bad choices that it doesn’t pay to view the Gospel as the gospel of limitations. Consequences cannot be escaped even following repentance. Christ can forgive sins but He cannot wipe away the repercussions of our acts. Consequences are inevitable, whether the choice is good or bad. Consequences of bad choices serve to remind us of the advantage of good choices.

Deep down, we all want a crown…..this is why so many fight for the glory of the world, because it is easier to achieve. He who sits upon the throne is the only giver of crowns that matter. Crowns of righteousness are crowns of  ‘everlasting’ glory bestowed upon all who inherit exaltation and eternal life. The race is on……don’t settle for the crown which in the end won’t matter.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: AI generated by Unknown)

NAILED TO HIS CROSS

 

Imagine your name with your every sin written on a placard and nailed to the cross of a person who has done no wrong to pay the price of suffering on your behalf in the valley of humiliation and death. This is the imagery Paul used to personalize the Atonement to the understanding of the Colossian saints (Colossians 2:14-15). In his day it was customary for Romans to write the crimes committed by the condemned person on a placard and nailed to the cross at the time of his crucifixion for all to see (John 19:19-22).

I have had occasion to reflect on this when enduring seemed like too big a task with a stark realization that if I didn’t ‘press toward the mark’ as Paul admonished (Philippians 3:14), I would be paying unthinkable dishonour to the most benevolent sacrifice for my soul. Not only this, but a gratitude for that sacrifice which erased my every indignity by paying the demands of justice so that I might not suffer the pains of a damned soul. Is there a greater debt than this? Or a greater repayment we could and should ever make? All that we are and can come to be we owe to Him who honoured that placard on His cross at Calvary……

 

A life laid bare in selfless giving

For man’s purpose of salvation

Crimson drops were spilt like roses

On the hill of His creation.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Glory of Jesus Christ by Ralph of Gratis Graphics)

THE BITTER CUP

 

“The scriptures tell us that Christ was ‘sore amazed’ at how exquisite the pain whilst in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-34). When we come to the moments in our lives when we ourselves are ‘sore amazed’, we are lifted to higher ground, the ground the Saviour stood on. It is in these moments in life that we connect to the reality of His suffering. Once we have made that connection, we become empowered to endure sorrow and pain and triumph over every foe of this earthly life, even as He did. The Saviour then becomes real and the Atonement becomes active in our lives.”

The above quote is something I wrote years ago when understanding of suffering came upon me. It is always a sobering moment when an idealist meets a challenge to their ideals though. I am that idealist. I believe in the ideal but living without it in this life has been a struggle for me. I am still trying to grasp the meaning of suffering on an emotional level. Understanding something intellectually and understanding it emotionally can be worlds apart. Understanding emotionally involves experience and experience sometimes means pain.

Consider Job. The most endearing thing about him was not his persistent endurance, as admirable as that was, but that his suffering caused him to be ‘weary of life’ and wish he had never been born (Job 3:3; 10:1). What an exquisite blend of excellence and humanity. Maybe Job teaches us that there is as much honour in pressing forward despite our lack of desire to do so as there is in cheerfully bearing our misfortunes without any complaint. I applaud those who can do the latter for in my opinion they are not many. Most of us don’t find joy in suffering. The honour is in not giving up rather than believing that we should be strong enough to never complain and thereby beating ourselves up from ensuing guilt that comes from such an expectation. I have known such guilt, I am an idealist.

The Saviour has had the hardest life of any of us. Even He asked for ‘the cup’ to be removed from Him (Mark 14:36) but His integrity did not fail Him and He drank the bitter dregs and thereby paved the way for us to do the same (John 18:11; 3 Nephi 11:11; D&C 19:18). Job endured and was rewarded with double of what he previously had (Job 42:10). The Saviour endured and He became the God of Heaven and inherited all that the Father has. May we be valiant in doing the same and follow the path to glory that awaits us.

Teach me dear God to look upward

And hope for the glories

That will one day be mine.

Help me to rise on wings of faith;

Lift me above valleys,

Mountains and seas

That I might forsake this world of suffering

And fly with haste to Thee.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come and See by Tyler Anderson)

OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

 

I recently watched a British Jewish woman explain to a show host the history of Israel and her Jewish heritage. The show host was of the opinion that the state of Israel was given to the Jews in 1948 to make up for the Holocaust. She explained that this was not so, that the Jews existed as a nation and possessed the land of Israel long before the time of Christ and that they lost that land due to various ruling powers that took them over and took it away from them. The only thing she omitted to explain is why in actuality the land was lost. We never learn….

Had the southern kingdom of Israel taken serious notice of the northern kingdom’s demise and captivity by the Assyrians in 724 B.C., they would never have been ousted and scattered from their homeland. Had the kingdom of Judah not abandoned the worship of Jehovah and turned to idolatry, the golden age of King David would have been preserved and they would never have lost the promised land. They would not now need Armageddon, which will come, to be converted to Christ who will come to save them, the Messiah they long ago awaited and 2,000 years ago rejected (Ezekiel 38, Zechariah 14, Revelation 16, Isaiah 34). What a  heart wrenching history for a favoured and chosen people of God.

I rejoice in my place in modern day Israel. I rejoice in my rich heritage grounded in the tribe of Ephraim, the son of the righteous Joseph, the heir of the Abrahamic covenant of exaltation. I rejoice in my knowledge of the Messiah. I rejoice that I was sent to this earth in this day and age when the knowledge of Him is flooding the earth. I am grateful that the believing blood of Israel courses through my veins. This blood I consider my greatest blessing because it was atoned for by the King of Glory and redeemed on the cross of Calvary. I look forward to the day when we, the covenant people, will gather from all the nations of the earth and come to Zion singing songs of everlasting joy (D&C 45:71).

Let us never forget who we worship and follow, so that we will not be removed from our place,  and let us do all we do in His name ‘giving thanks to God the Father by Him’, our God, our Saviour, our King……..(Colossians 3:17).

We, Israel, Thy chosen seed

Bow before Thee on bended knee.

Strengthen us in the hour of our need

That we might never stray again

And cause Thee sorrow;

And help us wait for Thee

In the dawning of tomorrow.

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art by Midjourney and Greg Rutkowski)

PRESS TOWARD THE MARK

 

Pressing forward is what I learnt from Paul.

In his valiant efforts to convince the Gentile converts that salvation does not come by conforming to the law of Moses, Paul used himself as an example of someone who by all means should believe in the law above all else being an educated man, ‘circumcised the eight day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of all Hebrews, a Pharisee’….(Philippians 3:5). Imagine the prestige, the respect, the grounding he had in the Jewish way of life. But then something marvelous happened to Paul. He met the true source of salvation and abandoned his faith in ‘the law’ (Acts 9:1-5). And not just his faith but ‘the loss of ALL things’ for ‘the excellency of the knowledge of Christ’ [(don’t you love how he put that?] (Philippians 3:8). No doubt the ‘the loss of all things’ included his wealth, respect,  family, friends, associates, fellow Jews…..in summation, his entire way of life.

What is the ‘excellency of the knowledge of Christ’? To Paul it meant two things: 1. salvation comes through Christ only and not through any law. If through the law, we would be capable of perfect obedience, but we are not hence the need for a Saviour (Philippians 3:9); and 2. because of Christ, we have hope of a glorious resurrection (vs 10,20,21). Paul gave up his everything that he ‘might know Him’ considering this knowledge to be of greatest worth of all (v10).

I was 17 years old when I was faced with an agonizing decision of leaving my family for the privilege of being baptized into the Church. It was an event in my life that created a tear in my family that has haunted me for more years than I care to admit. My close friend calls this ‘looking in the rearview mirror’…..but no rearview mirror for Paul, who joined in the fellowship of His sufferings, ‘forgetting those things which were behind’ reached forth for those things’ which were before him and ‘pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’  (vs 13,14).

Is not pressing toward the mark for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ the greatest worth??? He who gives life, illuminates us with light, offers salvation, freely gives resurrection, carries us in the palm of His hand….is He not worth the sacrifice of all????

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Midjourney and Greg Rutkowski)