The Door to Heaven / 30.03.2013
My years run from one disappointment to another. Of course there are consolations, but few of them come from humans. People benefit you whether they are like you or better than you. And you can rarely change what is commonly. And you might discover things against you in what appears as friendly. Much of this world is knit with hypocrisy. “Is this how our hopes always come to an end” until the Lord takes us out of this world? And after we pass away from this world, we become a “forgotten oblivion”; and in that is mercy from the Lord.
And the goodness of people is little and appears to be mixed with their falsehood. And oftentimes one cannot distinguish between their falsehood and honesty and you live appreciating what they offer of sincerity and also expecting it; but there remains for you a small group that comforts you because they are God’s and you also seek to be His. David says: “All humans are liars” and he goes on saying: “How do I reward the Lord for all what He has given me”? How are the two phrases related? If every human is a liar, I would expect nothing from any man. But I know myself as a believer, that is a man in whom there is no falsehood, and in the core of my being and in the midst of my pain– which is not a problem for me, is honest in that no matter how people behave towards me, I steadfastly remain in the presence of the Lord due to His presence “on my tongue” (in what I say) and in my vision.
No pain is left in my heart because of the hatred that some have for me – I am not specifically speaking about myself here – but this is a general principle in my life. And I would not say that there is jealousy in that; who am I to judge and who said that I have such goodness and virtues that would solicit jealousy? People are like that. The loving ones are few and you deal with those few until the Lord takes you to Himself where no lying is heard. The great advantage of Heaven is that God is honest and He sees you as you are; and He makes those in Heaven see your honesty and so you forget about the lying of the people of earth. I would expect that those who know me would wonder concerning what the causes of sadness and pain which I mention in my article are. God lifts up sorrow from whomever He wants and gives joy to whomever He wants. He does not give you joy that is not founded in the truth. You find it good to find joy in the flesh, but the flesh is from dust and often it smells of dust until the Lord lifts you up to the Kingdom. Our situation on the earth is one of closeness to what is unclean in it, until we leave this earth at death. “Every human is a liar” because he tries to hide the uncleanness in him so he appears “white” to others. But those who are great in spiritual life get concerned with how God sees us. And those live by that view of life they speak of.
Your destiny in this world is that you live by yourself or with some good people who rejoice at your progress in spiritual life. That statement is foreign to most people. If you have fear of God, you find yourself alone. People usually have fear of one another and keep fearing God till later in life since they consider that they live from the bounties of the earth. You might have sorrow in you due to that difference since you find that people are not earnest for the Kingdom of God while you are; they are not sad over their own condition and are not sad for you since they “got their reward”.
Disappointments never end but you should not perish because of a shock and you should not expect an end to shocks. You are stranded on the cross that you were promised and often you get consolations in that. And so you go from one “resurrection” to another. Our resurrection with Christ is accomplished at our crucifixion, in the same way it took place with Him. And we embrace our cross knowing that it is the path to our resurrection. Our life in Christ comes with our tiredness of this world and with our prayer life; that is it starts with a cross which the believer sees as the basis of his resurrection.
And that is the path of all of life since there is no life in one’s course except from death; and I mean by that the evanescence of worldly glory and vain boasting. The Lord crowns you with glory from Him if He finds you deserving of the crown. And falling removes from you all glory and places you at the bottom of shame.
“There is no life except from death” means that you refuse to have the glory that comes your way in life and you seek only the glory of God. In this world there only is vain glory which comes our way from the transient pride of life. I feel that people believe only in what is of their world since they have preferred their world to that of God; that is they feel that goodness comes their way from this world since the end of their life is “delayed” – or they put it off – and so they enjoy it only in hope since, at the present, they feel it is not under their control.
The sorrow of most people is that they do not seek anything from Heaven at the start of their lives, and they consider that this world is empty of the blessings of Heaven or that this world can “open the door of Heaven only slightly”.
If there is nothing of the Kingdom in you, you cannot see it. You have nothing in that which is coming unless that has started with you and in you in this world. Have not you read what the Bible says “The Kingdom of God is in you” (Luke 17: 21). Be of Heaven at the present time, or you will not be so in the days to come. Christ has come and will come again.
Translated by Riad Moufarrij
Original Text: “باب السماء” – An Nahar – 30.03.2013
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