MERCY 1

 

The Promise of Dawn by Dan Gerhartz

Mercy has been one of the Saviour’s attributes I thought I understood well. Not until recently did I realise I only understood it partially.

I have for a while now been praying for mercy regarding my illness. I have wanted a healing. There have been days when I felt the absence of it acutely and I am ashamed to admit with that absence came disbelief of God’s love. I could simply not understand it. I thought I qualified even just for a fraction of the ample mercy we are told is ever at the Saviour’s disposal to give.

As I reflected on this phenomenon recently I thought there must be something I was missing and there certainly was. It was given to me to see clearly that mercy cannot be given on demand, otherwise it is not mercy. Mercy comes from one who is merciful to give. It cannot be manipulated, demanded, expected, or even earned. It comes from the Saviour’s merciful heart and therefore it comes on His terms. Saviour’s mercy is a gift that should be trusted in but when and how it is offered is up to Him.  

Our part in receiving mercy is trust. Because mercy is usually given as a form of relief but if that relief was given us prematurely, it could jeopardize our growth and learning. Consider the multi-faceted answers to our prayers and you will see how complex deliverance of mercy can be:

”If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith.

“If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there would be no evil – all would do good but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls. Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death, and if these were not, there would also be no joy, success, resurrection, nor eternal life and godhood.” (President Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p 97).

Enduring something difficult when a promise of mercy has been given but is not forthcoming is not for faint hearted. Trusting someone we do not see or something we have no proof of is a hard doctrine. We live by sight in this world and we often fail in our faith. I have often wondered how the Saviour can be so restrained and so tolerant of us when we lack in our faith in Him and then I came across this scripture which helped me to understand:

“I am Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning, therefore my hand shall be over thee” (Abraham 2:8)

Notice how He did not say, “I know all things from beginning to the end”. Instead He said it the other way around. He said, “I know THE END”. In other words, I know how this is going to end up. I know the end product of YOU. I can be tolerant with you and what you are going through because I know the end.

The Saviour is not so concerned about where we have been but He focuses on the direction we are facing and where that direction will help us end up. For that good He reserves His mercy for the times and events in our lives that will be profitable for that end. His main concern is our eternal well-being and what we will become. This concern overrides the comfort and ease we expect in this life. He is ever driven by the work He shares with the Father to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN  

ON JOY AND SORROW

 

Acquainted with Grief by Jenedy Paige

“He wept – He who had descended below all things, the Man of Sorrows, He who bore all our griefs. The heights of His infinite capacity for joy is the inverse, mirror image of the depth of His capacity to bear our burdens.

“So it is with the enlarged caverns of feeling within our own hearts; as the sorrows of our lives carve and stretch those caverns, they expand our soul’s capacity for joy. Then, when the Man of Sorrows turns our bitter tastes to sweet, our joy – and His – will fill the widened chambers of our hearts with what the scriptures call ‘fulness’. That is when we have accepted His Atonement and love with such completeness that His purpose for us is fully satisfied.

“Then will we know that we were made for this. Then will we know where, and why, and to whom, we belong. “For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with gladness (Psalm 107:9).

-          Bruce C. Hafen, “The Belonging Heart”, p 315) 

KAHLIL GIBRAN ON JOY AND SORROW:

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow”, and others say, “Nay, sorrow is greater.” But I say to you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily, you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise to fall.

-          Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet – A Timeless Masterpiece”

 

OUR KING

 

(Art: Second Coming designed by Crafton Art Prints)

Thou art our everlasting God

Jehovah, our King,

Who has loved us and chosen us as Thine own;

Keep us as the apple of Thine eye,

Hide us under the shadow of Thy wings

That we might never stray

And cause Thee sorrow;

And help us wait for Thee

In the dawning of tomorrow.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

EZRA THE SCRIBE

 

 

The prophet Jeremiah preached to the Kingdom of Judah for 40 years attempting to avert the impending captivity that eventually left Judah's land desolate. So steeped in sin and idolatry, Judah, like Ephraim and the 10 tribes, lost sight of the God they once promised to worship and serve.

 

It would seem they needed the experience of captivity to awaken them to their true God. The 10 tribes came to their senses quickly and were led by the hand of the Father into obscurity until such time that He would bring them back (3 Nephi 17:4). Judah on the other hand became a very zealous nation for its God whilst in captivity to Babylon. They realised that the prophets were right all along and that they needed to abandon image worship and return to the one true and living God.

 

So zealous were they in their devotion to Jehovah's law that they became slaves to the numerous rules of conduct that went beyond the law itself. Out of this zeal different religious factions were born such as Pharisees and Sadducees which ensured strict observance to the overwhelming number of laws and rules that were invented. Up until the Babylonian captivity, scriptures were only read on special occasions and on the sabbath. Once Judah was taken into captivity this changed and scriptures began to be taught to the general public on regular basis by another factious group called scribes.

 

Over time the Jews in Babylon began to adopt the language and culture of the Chaldeans forgetting the Hebrew language. This necessitated the assistance of scribes who read and interpreted the scriptures to them. "Through the years, each religious group - scribes, Pharisses, Sadducees and others referred to the written word, quoted it, enlarged upon it, interpreted it, and in other ways continued to add to what their fathers had established. The commentaries, explanations, interpretations, and inferences became known as ‘oral tradition’.

 

In time, these traditions, written and oral, took on so much importance that they often overshadowed the law and became a stumbling block for the Jews" (Old Testament Student Manual, 1 Kings - Malachi, p. 262). This is the condition in which the Saviour found the Jews when He made His appearance as the awaited and promised Messiah.

 

Ezra, a scribe and a captive in Babylon, was charged by the Persian king, following the completion of the second temple, to teach the Jewish people in Jerusalem of the law and then set up a judgment system for the lawbreakers (see Ezra 7:25-26).

 

Under King Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.), Ezra and Nehemiah led the second wave of Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah, a royal cup bearer to the King, and a man of unselfish patriotism and personal integrity assumed the position of Jerusalem’s governor. Together with Ezra, a righteous and dedicated priest, they succeeded in restoring and reviving a Jewish community in Jerusalem and effected great reforms amongst the congregation.  

 

The spiritual reformation of Jerusalem became the first and greatest importance. During the span of three generations between the first and second group of returned exiles, many of the people including the priests and the Levites had intermarried with people of different cultures and religions (Ezra 9:1,2). Ezra was devastated to say the least when he learnt of this and offered a heart rendering prayer to God for forgiveness of the direct violation of God’s command against inter-marriage at the time of the entry into the promised land (Ezra 9:6-15).

 

Inter-marriage carried a serious risk of idolatry and spiritual decay for God’s chosen people. So acute was Ezra’s awareness of this that in his grief he refused to eat, tore his clothes and cast himself down before the temple. Makes you want to weep and weep the people did before him acknowledging that they had trespassed against God and were willing to renew their covenant with Him by promising to put away their ‘strange’ wives (Ezra 10:1-16). As a woman who was a single mother for 20 years, I don’t know how I feel about this. I have always wondered what happened to those poor women and their children who were left husbandless in the worst time and place to be so. 

The situation does make twos things obvious here: 1.There is a consequence to pay for every sin and 2. Repentance comes at a high price. Either way, disobedience is not worth it…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

FATHER'S CHARGE

 

Soul's Surrender by Greg Collins

Long ago,

When you lived in my arms

You wanted to fly

In the vast expanse of the skies.

I gifted you wings,

And promised I would

Teach you to fly.

Just remember, I am here, but

It is your turn now,

To rise.

 

-      Cathryne Allen 

THE DOERS OF THE WORD

 

(Art: Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Riviere 1890)

I don’t think we understand how important we are in making the Plan of Salvation work to everyone’s advantage. When we read scriptural prophecies we tend to think that God will miraculously make things happen or that someone else will suddenly appear to fulfil the promises God has made when in fact it is the ordinary people like us who are ‘the doers of the word’ that are instrumental in God’s hands of making marvellous things come to pass.

Daniel of the Old Testament is a good example of making things happen. Daniel lived in Babylonian captivity in service to heathen kings for most of his life. He was very much devoted to the God of Israel and had Israel's welfare at heart. He eagerly hung onto the Lord's promise that Israel's captivity would last only 70 years (Jeremiah 29:10).

I mentioned in my previous post on Cyrus that historians attribute Daniel with the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 44:28-45:1-5). Imagine this man who loved God, being so familiar with the scriptures and knowing of a man called Cyrus who would free the Jewish nation, see him walk through Babylon’s gates! How could he not use his position in government to tell him of the prophecy that contained his name?

When Cyrus sent the first wave of the Jews to Jerusalem and they began rebuilding the temple, they encountered bitter opposition from the Samaritans who reasoned that they should be involved in the project. Samaritans were Assyrians who intermarried with left-over Israelites in Samaria, following the conquest of the Ten Tribes. Because they were not pure Israelites and had practiced a variant religion of Jehovah worship heavily intermingled with pagan and other unauthorized religious practices, the Jews refused.

 

In retaliation the Samaritans influenced the Persian kings who succeeded Cyrus to halt the rebuilding project for 17 years. In steps Daniel again. In the first year of King Darius, Daniel again petitioned the Lord about Jeremiah's prophecy. Daniel 9:17-19 shows Daniel's prayerful concern for the unfinished temple and the city of Jerusalem. The Lord answered Daniel and raised two prophets in Jerusalem: Haggai and Zechariah.

 

You might wonder how prophets could finish construction of anything. You might wonder why God didn't send someone with political clout, negotiation expertise or even military power....but instead he sent two of his servants to finish the job....and finish they did....Haggai alone showed the Jews exactly why they were not able to finish the project. He taught them that all temporal problems arise out of spiritual weakness and that if they would put God first, they would extricate themselves from abject poverty they were in which was their main problem.  It makes for compelling reading.

 

These two prophets instructed the governor Zerubbabel, the high priest Jeshua and the Jewish people how to complete the temple in spite of persecution, poverty and governmental red tape (Haggai 1:1-5, 12-14; Zechariah 4:9, Ezra 6:14). Even though these two prophets got the job done, in reality, this began with Daniel, the doer of the word.

 

“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass……[and] by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.”  (Alma 37:6,7)

 

We might be the small and simple things but He is the mighty one who fulfils……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

TO BE LIKE HIM

 

Divine Faith by Greg Collins

In the beginning,

When the worlds came to be

I created everything needful

For you to become like Me.

 

I planned, I considered,

I knew each of you separately,

And I hoped against hope

You would want to become like Me.

 

Now I hear each plea

And answer it carefully,

Leading you gently to

Your own Gethsemane,

To become like Me.

 

-       Cathryne Allen 

CYRUS THE GREAT

 

“When we say God has a plan, He truly has a plan – not simply a grand scale, but for each of us as individuals, allocating some special talent to this dispensation and some to another. I regard God as the perfect personnel manager, even though He must work with and through all of us who are so imperfect.

“I assume, gladly, that in the allocation to America of remarkable leaders like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, the Lord was just as careful. After all, if you’ve got only one AbrahamLincoln, you’d better put him in that part in history when he’s most needed – much as some of us might like to have him now.”

-          Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, p 46

God uses people with talents and skills that He needs to accomplish His purposes and whom He can trust to do so, whether they be His followers or not: “God the father of us all, uses the men of the earth, especially good men, to accomplish his purposes. It has been true in the past, as it is true today, it will be true in the future.” (Elder Ezra Taft Benson, In Conference Report, April 1972, pp 48-49)

Cyrus, the King of Persia, who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., and inherited the exiled Jews, whom the Saviour called ‘my shepherd’ and ‘my anointed’ was one such person whose destiny was planned by God of Israel himself and who has used him for His purpose. Cyrus was born between 580-590 B.C. The destruction of Solomon’s temple and the final wave of Judah’s exile into Babylon happened in 586 B.C. One hundred and forty years before the exile and before Cyrus was born, prophet Isaiah prophesied of his specific earthly mission for which God would raise him up, to liberate the captive Israel after 70 years of servitude (Isaiah 44:28-45:1-5).

“To trace the life of Cyrus from his birth to his death, whether he knew it or not, it looked as he lived by inspiration in all his movements. He began with that temperance and virtue which would sustain any Christian country or any Christian king….Many of these principles followed him, and I have thought many of them were worthy, in many respects, the attention of men who have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, vol 22, p 207)

The military conquests of Cyrus were nothing short of remarkable. Empires virtually fell into his hands and by the time he reached Babylon, he was considered a liberator and not a conqueror. The citizens of Babylon welcomed him with open arms because of his intended reforms that would make life better and easier for the common man. Babylon that was a fortress to be reckoned with was overthrown in one night as the city opened its gates to him without a battle and this is why:

“Cyrus was a born ruler of men. He inaugurated a new policy in the treatment of conquered peoples. Instead of tyrannizing over them and holding them in subjection by brute force, he treated his subjects with consideration and won them as hie friends. He was particularly considerate of the religions of conquered peoples. The effect of this policy was to weld his subjects to him in a loyalty which made his reign an era of peace.” (Elmer W.K. Mould, Essentials of Bible History, pp 348-49)

Numerous commentators have denied that Isaiah named Cyrus as the liberator of the Jews so many years before he appeared. They have argued that his name was added to Isaiah’s prophecy after his conquest of Babylon and the help he gave to the Jewish nation. Josephus, the Jewish historian, recognized Isaiah’s prophecy to be valid by quoting letters from Cyrus confirming the prophet’s predictions (see Josephus, Antiquities, XI, 1,2).

Cyrus not only had respect for the people he governed but he had respect for God whom he acknowledged as the fountain of his success. The God of Israel worked with this man to ensure he fulfilled his purpose:

“…the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, HE IS THE GOD……”  (Ezra 1:2,3)

If only all of us were so willing to obey and to acknowledge God as the fountain of our blessings…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Cyrus the Great by Unknown)

SENTRIES OF THE HEART

Like Israel of old

I foolishly sought man’s protection

And trusted in the arm of flesh

Until you showed me the strength

Of Your invincible arm

And how much easier You can make

My journey’s difficult path.

How foolish I was to trust in man’s might,

How foolish to seek mortal comfort

And settle for feeble sentries of the heart.

- Cathryne Allen 

(Art by LDS Bookstore)

 

THE COMFORT OF BONDAGE

 

 

It always amazes me how the Saviour never washes His hands of Israel no matter how unfaithful they have been. Even when they fall into captivity, He plans and puts into place the process of rescue well before it is supposed to take place. He is a God of order and success.  The return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem 70 years after their captivity began, as predicted by Jeremiah in his book (25:11,12; 29:10) is the prime example of this.

Behind the fulfilment of this prophecy was a Persian king that Jehovah prepared who conquered Babylonians by the name of Cyrus. It is suggested by historians that when Cyrus conquered Babylon that he found Daniel there in his governmental capacity, and that Daniel pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah that was given 140 years before the fall of Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28, 45). Adding seventy years after the fall, makes 210 years of prophecy before Cyrus even appeared in Babylon. Astonishing, isn’t it?

The prophecy states that the Lord would raise up a mighty king who would free the Jewish captives in Babylon and allow them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the holy city. Cyrus was so impressed with this prophecy about himself that he sent out the proclamation amongst the Jews in Babylon that ‘the Lord God of heaven had charged [him] to build him a house at Jerusalem’ (Ezra 1:2) and asked who among all of God’s people wanted to return. He actually offered freedom to anyone who wanted it.

Now this is the most astonishing bit. Approximately 50,000 people chose to return to Jerusalem while MOST chose not to return having been absorbed into the Babylonian way of life and the comfort of bondage. And this is why. In 605 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (now Iraq) was the beginning of Babylon’s greatness and glory. Using slaves from various areas of the empire, he inaugurated a massive building program to make Babylon the greatest city in the world. Opulence, greatness and glory was the object.

The grandeur of Babylon was incredibly impressive but with such opulence and wealth also came moral decay, wickedness and iniquity. Will Durant, a secular historian wrote that “even Alexander [the Great], who was not above dying of drinking was shocked by the morals of Babylon (Our Oriental Heritage, p 244).

Babylon became the antithesis of godliness. The very name of this city stood as the symbol for worldliness, spiritual wickedness and Satan’s kingdom. Scripturally it is known as: “the great whore” and “the mother of harlots and abominations (Rev 17:1; 5; D& C 133:14; 1:16; 1 Nephi 13:5-9; Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah, Old Testament Student Manual p 244).

There is one thing that stands out to me regarding Israel who fell into bondage with Babylon. God himself was in charge of this catastrophe promising Israel that He would bring a nation against them  because of their sins and rejection of Him as their God (Jeremiah 25:7-9). So this is what stands out…..He did not give them into bondage to just any nation but the worst there was, Babylon, a nation so spiritually corroded that it stands out as an obvious product of Israel’s idol worship.

In other words, if they wanted to worship false idols and gods, this is what they got…..spiritual decay and spiritual bondage. This is a classical example of cause and effect. You want other gods? You get what other gods can give you!

The name “Babylon” is today synonymous with ‘the world’. In Section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the saints are commanded to ‘come out of Babylon’ in preparation for the Second Coming (v 5,7). So powerful is its grip that ancient Israelites did not want to leave it.  I wonder how many of us will heed the call this time…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

HUMILITY 3

 

In Humility Our Savior by Jay Bryant Ward

It seems I cannot stop writing about this subject.

My close friend commented on one of my posts recently and pointed out how well it was done. I replied: “Of course it was because I’m a super-duper writer, a scriptorian and a spiritual giant!!! And the humility is off the charts!!!”  

We both laughed but the reality is that I AM a good writer because I went to the University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English; I AM a scriptorian, a miniature one but nevertheless….because I have studied the scriptures intently for the past 30 years; and I AM a spiritual giant because I have a gravitational pull towards the truth and anything of the spirit. I live for all three so I should by all means excel in all three.

Let me explain why this is important to me. I have come to my 60s feeling very inadequate about myself. I have written before about the reality of my upbringing in poverty in a socialist country. I was brought up with an ingrained idea that I am not as good as my friends who came from better households because their parents belonged to the communist party and were privy to jobs others could never get. Added to this was my generational poverty from ancestors who lived under the feudal system with overlords who subjected them to the idea that they can never rise above servitude. All this had an impact on me.

Fast forward to the age I became a member of Christ’s Church and His avid disciple at the age of 18. Since then my eyes have been opened to who I am and who I have always been as I have studied the teachings of the Church and the scriptures, endured many trials and difficulties which afforded growth and learning, and have had many revelations and insights into my pre-earth life and my character. I am daring to trust that I am much more than I was raised to believe.

I wrote in a previous post about the Saviour’s necessity to proclaim who He is, and to make His godly attributes and traits known, so that we can have faith in His saving power. Never at any time when I have read the scriptures did I get the impression that He was doing so out of pride. He was simply saying, this is who I am, believe in me.

We should, like Him, follow suit in recognizing our innate qualities and our growth. Most especially, following Christ and having a close relationship with Him, should lift us higher than our earthly flaws and humanity. We need to stand on higher ground so that we are able to lift others, like He has done. Humility should be just another attribute that we can be endowed with as we strive to become like Him.

Paul who called himself ‘the least of the apostles’ and the ‘chief of the sinners’ (1 Cor 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:15), became the greatest missionary in history because he knew who made a new person out of him and therefore he could say: “…but by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10)

Humility springs in my heart

Like a well overflowing

With life giving water;

It quells the pride of my soul

And helps me see

I could never be the Me;

But for Thy grace

And Thy devotion

To make of me what   

I am meant to be. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

GIFTS TO MOTHERS

 

In the Arms of His Love by Greg Olsen

What are children to a mother

If not gifts from heaven’s door;

As jewels from God’s own bosom

Gifted to her heart forever more.

Entrusted with the greatest charge

Sealed with hope of tender care;

From His hands

To mothers given

As gifts of worth beyond compare.

-       CATHRYNE ALLEN

MAN OF HAPPINESS

 

Joy of the Lord by Greg Olsen

"I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheeful, pleasant, lively and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit. That is one reason why I know; and another is - the Lord said, through Joseph Smith, "I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance." That arises from the perfection of His attributes; He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man."  (President Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 4:222)

"The plan of happiness, which is spoken about so often in the Church today, comes from a "Man of Happiness" as well as a "Man of Holiness". Our developing faith comes as we understand better the purpose of the scriptures, and that is to teach us the nature of a saved being, he who beckons us to become like him."

- Jerry A. Wilson, "The Great Plan of Happiness - Insights from the Lectures on Faith" p 37

How can I tell you

What my mortal lips cannot say?

How can I show you

What my mortal heart cannot hold?

All that I feel

And all that I am

I owe to you,

My God,

My Exemplar,

My all.  

 - Cathryne Allen 

THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

 

The Color of Butterfly Wings by LDS Bookstore

His gift, the beauty of the earth,

To soften the blow of turbulence

So relentlessly near;

With every movement of the trees

And the rustle of its leaves,

He whispers:

“I am here”

 

-       CATHRYNE ALLEN

ON SACRIFICE

 

"The World" by LDS Bookstore

“For a man to lay down his all, his (1) character and reputation, his honour, and applause, his good name among men, (2) houses, his lands, his (3) brothers and sisters, his wife and children and even his (4) own life also….requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge, realizing that, when these sufferings are ended; he will enter into eternal rest, and be a partaker of the glory of God” (Jerry A. Wilson, Lecture 6:5, The Great Plan of Happiness, Insights From the Lectures on Faith, p 68)

Just as the Saviour paid an enormous price for the gift of eternal life that is on offer to all of us, we are asked to sacrifice our all here in mortality, to basically become like Him and be worthy of such a gift.

Paul called all things that he sacrificed and walked away from ‘but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ’. A real Jew, circumcised, of the stock of Israel, a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin, as he called himself (Philippians 3:5,8; Romans 11:1), walked away from his Jewish upbringing, family, lucrative career, and social standing amongst the Romans, and chose to believe in the gifts of eternity.

As well defined as the path of sacrifice is in the above quote, I wish to write about another form of sacrifice and that is the sacrifice of ego and self-importance because I believe this is the power base of all other forms of sacrifice. This is the root out of which all forms of sacrifice can grow.

I have a friend currently on vacation in Bali. She has been very impressed with the people’s kindness and helpfulness. She has learnt a lot of their customs, among which is the traditional responsibility among Balinese people to care for their aging parents. She found it amazing that ‘the poorer they are, the more caring and loving they are.

I replied to her that it is a proven truth that when you are not spoilt and encumbered by the comforts and luxuries of the world, you care about things that truly matter much easier and better. I also pointed out that we are so intent on ‘having things’ and we do not realize how that pursuit encourages and motivates self-importance to the detriment of the important things like giving of yourself to others which is one of the sacrifices we are asked to make.

We live in a world of ego called “me, myself and I”. Somehow, we have lost the sight of sacrifice as we seek to elevate ourselves instead. The nature of our world is undergirded by possession of worldly things, of houses and lands, of honour and applause. We cannot survive without two incomes, professional unfulfillment, a house in a well to do neighbourhood, private schools, latest cars…..and so called holidays essential for our mental health.

While Balinese people live on scooters from the age of 17 and care for their aging family members, a lot of us are relying on aged care homes to care for our parents and grandparents so we can ‘get on with our lives’.  

If we are to secure that gift of eternal life by emulating the life of Him who can give it to us, we need to place the self on the altar of sacrifice more often that we do as sacrifice of self reveals the face of eternity and the view is glorious because of the greatest sacrifice there ever was:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

HIS EARTHLY SUFFERING

 

No Greater Love by Adam Abram

I heard You in my heart today

And all You tried so hard to say.

My soul split open and I could see

What You suffered in Gethsemane.

 

My tears spilled and climbed that hill

Where Your suffering increased yet still.

My sorrow spilt, I saw my guilt

As You absolved me on that cross of Calvary

 

When one day soon again we meet

I will sorrow at Your feet.

My hands raw from clutching still

That gruesome cross of Calvary.

 

You have my heart,

You have my soul,

My purchased self is Yours to own.

In my memory, Your blood runs still

On that ruthless hill of Calvary.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

HUMILITY 2

 

My Teacher by Chris Brazelton

When Moses went up to Mount Sinai for the second time with new plates the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there and proclaimed His name:

“And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin….” (Exodus 34:4-7)

There is real significance in this. When God restores or renews covenants, He reveals himself by confirming His impeccable character so His people can know Him, trust Him and follow Him. In other words, He is saying, this is who I am, who you are covenanting with. It is meant to build faith in people and invite them back into a real relationship with Him. In this instance, Israel had broken the covenant by worshipping the golden calf.

The Gospel of John records Christ’s proclamations of who He is which identifies Him as the Saviour of all mankind. These proclamations are known as the “7 I AMs:

·         I am the bread of life (6:31,51)

·         I am the light of the world (8:12)

·         I am the door of the sheep (10:7,9)

·         I am the good shepherd (10:11,14)

·         I am the resurrection and life (11:25)

·         I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6)

·         I am the true vine (15:1,5)

I have often been amazed at the confidence with which Jesus proclaimed Himself as the Messiah. The Jews expected Him to come in the clouds of glory, not through the stench of a stable. Judging Him to be a mere mortal led some to say that He was mad because of these proclamations (John 10:20) and some that he was possessed of a devil (John 8:48; 8:52; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). But imagine if He didn’t openly proclaim what He was like and what He had to offer as the Saviour of the world. Who would have had faith in Him if He held back and denied His attributes and characteristics and His role in the human experience? How blind the people of Jesus’s time were not to see that His confidence was grounded in humility and not pride.

Sometimes we are reluctant to vocalise our good qualities for fear that people will consider us prideful. Martin Luther said: “True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue.” I do not completely agree with this statement.  We are told that humility is the mother of virtues and rightly so but I wonder if we know how to properly appreciate it for our benefit.

There is one person we should affirm our humility to and that is ourselves. There would have to be a day when our trials and obedience have humbled us enough to be able to say to ourselves: I am humble enough to be corrected, I am humble enough to admit I am wrong, I am humble enough to be teachable, I am humble enough to be chastised, I am humble enough to receive instruction, to be taught, to receive help, to apologise, to correct a wrong, to make restitution when I have caused damage. I love a person who can say, “when I’m wrong, I’m wrong”….We should be able to acknowledge humility within us when it is for our benefit and the benefit of our fellowman.

The Book of Mormon tells us that humility before God will grant us these four things (Mosiah 4:12-13):

·         We will be filled with the love of God;

·         We will grow in knowledge of Him’

·         We will retain a remission of our sins;

·         We will love our fellowman

We want this, don’t we? So the commitment should be: I choose to be humble enough to believe in a higher power than myself, to be taught about Him, to obey Him, to amend my ways and recognize I am no better than my fellowman. That’s humility – minimizing self-importance and finding a healthy place for it on your priority list.

One man in the scriptures who knew full well who he was, what he became and by what power he got there was Paul who said: “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am…..” (1 Corinthians 15:9,10). In other words, I was wrong, I was humble enough to repent and accept salvation from Him who saved me from the jaws of hell. That’s humility. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN