THE FAVOURED ONE

 

“How almost unthinkable it is that a God should become a man; that the Creator of all things from the beginning should come down and be himself created from the dust of the earth; that he being infinite forever should become finite for a season; that the Maker of men should become subject to them; that he who has ascended above all things should now descend below them all; that he who knows all things and has all might, power, and dominion should begin anew, as it were, and go himself from grace to grace until the eternal fulness was his once again.

“And yet how normal and right such a process is! How could it be otherwise? If the plan of salvation, ordained by the Father, was to enable all of his spirit children to advance and progress and become like him, then Jehovah also was subject to its terms and conditions. And how better could he be favoured above all others than to be born, not of mortality only but of Immortality, not of man only but of God, not of the earth only but of Heaven?!”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah”, p 454-5

I have always felt that the Saviour was favoured of the Father. One year, in connection with a personal revelation I received, I came to understand that the Father loves Him the most, for what He has done for the rest of His children, for His perfect obedience and for being His only child in mortality. I had opposition to that theory but I would not be convinced otherwise. I would never dare to expect the same level of entitlement for anything that is due to the Saviour. There is only one “My Beloved Son”.

I looked up to You

When in my beginning.

I saw Your strength,

Your care, Your undying love,

And I knew only YOU

Could make up for what

I alone could not do.

 

You are our Deliverer,

You are our King,

You are our holy grail,

You are our everything.

 

We will never follow

  the footsteps of any other,

You will ever be

our Beloved Brother.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mary and Son by Rose Datoc Dall)

THE BURNING LIGHT

 

“A man travelling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid. He looked at it and said to his guide: “This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see one little devil in this great city.

“The guide replied: “You do not understand, Sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness, corruption, degradation and abomination of every kind that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.”

“Travelling on a little further, the man came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hillside, surrounded by seven great, big coarse looking devils. “Why”, says the traveler, “this must be a tremendously wicked old man! Only see how many devils there are around him!”

“This”, replied the guide, “is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.”

-        Chinese Fable

Does it make you wonder what strategies the old man used to make himself impervious to the influence of the adversary? I thought of listing some helpful ways we could do to achieve the same result, such as seeking after righteousness through prayer, scriptures, temple, Church, family home evening, clean and worthy thoughts, service……

As I reflected on these many things, I remembered reading a book years ago by a Christian woman who suggested every Christian should pray daily for a shield of faith to be placed around them to withstand the fiery darts of the adversary. I thought this, for sure, was the best way. Even today I pray for this shield of faith and it has served me well, I am sure.

In the early hours of this morning, something far more powerful came to my mind. The true path to repel the adversary is by his arch enemy, the Christ. The most-sure way is allowing the light of Christ to sear our consciousness and sharpen our focus so that before us is always the one and only path to salvation. Where there is light, there cannot be darkness.

This is the greatest repellant we have against him who cannot generate light and can only turn our lives into ashes.  He cannot stand the light, he cowers in darkness and feeds on the energy it gives him but there will come a day when he will be cast into the pit devoid of any power and be just a shell of his former self (Isaiah 14:12-20).

The imposter can lie, cheat and imitate but he will never be the Christ. He cannot light our path, he can only blind. All the things I listed surely do enable us to keep our focus on the Saviour but they are ‘doing things’ and they can easily fall by the wayside. What is more powerful and lasting is allowing Christ into our hearts. It means to develop a love that burns deep into our soul. A fire that burns, gives light.

The Saviour stands at the gates of heaven with open arms to receive us.

Be the force that the devil can reckon with but can never win…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Light of Christ by Douglas Bentley)