“ I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly.
”
The Father has given to the Son to have life in himself; that life is our light. We know life only as light; it is the life in us that makes us see. All the growth of the Christian is the more and more life he is receiving. At first his religion may hardly be distinguishable from the mere prudent desire to save his soul; but at last he loses that very soul in the glory of love, and so saves it; self becomes but the cloud on which the white light of God divides into harmonies unspeakable.
“In the mist of life we are in death,” said one; it is truer that in the midst of death we are in life. Life is the only reality; what men call death is but a shadow—a word for that which cannot be—a negation, owing the very idea of itself to that which it would deny. But for life there could be no death. If God were not, there would not even be nothing. Death can be the cure for nothing, the cure for everything must be life. The ills which come with existence are from its imperfection, not of itself—what we need is more of it. Life is the law, the food, the necessity of life. Life is everything. Many doubtless mistake the joy of life for life itself; and, longing after the joy, languish with a thirst at once poor and inextinguishable; but even that thirst points to the one spring. These love self, not life, and self is but the shadow of life. When it is taken for life itself, and set as the man’s center, it becomes a live death in the man, a devil he worships as his god; the worm of the death eternal he clasps to his bosom as his one joy!
Commentary
by Leah Morency
Painting by Leah Bond
Behold, they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!"
-- Jeremiah 17:15
We live in a relationship, our need and Him coming to us, to bring us to life and to sustain and grow us in Life.
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers."
-- Psalm 1:3
"He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
-- Jeremiah 17:8
The Word, The Light, The Water.
This days sermon excerpt is so rich and full of the visualization of spiritual truths, one idea keeps returning to my mind. This reality we exist in, much like MacDonald says, This "cloud" is not The Reality, but it does exist for the Knowing of the full reality, and we can know, and we will know, because death will be swallowed up by life. The death we suffer with, in our struggle with the "ills which come with existence" can be overcome. The light which the eye sees by God brings to life in a physical reality. The tree grows great and strong by the nourishment of Light, by being rooted in the Living Water, by the constant coming of the Word.
God is the great master artist, crafting every corner of our world for the illustration of a greater reality. I believe one day, for each of us, we may see that the world we see and derive our idea of "realism" from, we will see is much like an abstract masterpiece of spiritual truths.
And one great truth and comfort we must stay rooted in through our journey is this...
"A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary."
-- Jeremiah 17:12