Colo 127

Giving Tree

2011-07-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

Book Read By Author

I recently again read Shel Silverstein’s book, “The Giving Tree” to my 3 year old son and after was left with a strange sense of hopeful gloominess. I had read the book several times before but have never been so uneasily affected by its message. The next day, in a great moment of Otium Sanctum (“Holy Leisure”) I think the Spirit connected some dots for me. The hopefulness pushed out the gloominess and actually got me excited about becoming a Tree.

Below is my dialogue with God:

The giving tree - the boy takes and takes, the tree gives and gives, to the point of giving everything. Am I the boy, and you the tree? It is sad because in the end the tree is left as a stump. I find myself angry at the flippancy of the boy in taking from the tree, even though the tree contends that she is happy. She is happy to be useful, but in the end she is used up. You however although in appearance were cut down, came back, glorified, at the right hand of The father, and you received a name that is greater than all other names. You can’t be used up.

You are an infinite forest of giving, not just a tree. There is no limit to your provision - but it seems that you beckon me to be a tree. One that would be a cheerful giver, to the point of stump, but it seems I need not fear, for my strength and provision pulls from your forest, not my branches, but yours, not my leaves, yours. Not my trunk yours. " I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

I am to participate with you, in your mission, of giving. To be completely emptied of myself and find great joy in giving to others, to let Love drive...to the point of stump. Not to glorify the act of martyrdom as the chief ideal, but rather love, and the greatest demonstration of love is as you say - Greater love has no one than this: to lay down ones life for ones friends. So love reigns.

John 12:24-26

24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

We remain a single seed, full of potential and potential energy, not willing or understanding the potential harvests that could come from within. We have great ability, fearful to some, and this ability although innate, is not manufactured in our individual efforts, but because of the system of reproduction God has put into us we have this potential. All we must do is come to the end of ourselves and die.

Maybe the last chapter of The Giving Tree should be that because the tree gave it's apples, and branches, and trunk, it castes it seeds and created a forest. And the boy's children and grandchildren were able to come and play the forest - and the Tree was very happy.

Blaise

2011-06-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

And yet after such a great number of years, no one without faith has reached the point to which all continually look. All complain, princes and subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young, strong and weak, learned and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all countries, all times, all ages, and all conditions.

A trial so long, so continuous, and so uniform, should certainly convince us of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts. But example teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there is not some slight difference; and hence we expect that our hope will not be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us, experience dupes us, and from misfortune to misfortune leads us to death, their eternal crown.

What is it then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.”

Blaise Pascal Section VII – Morality and Doctrine 425

The Blood that Speaks

2011-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 12:23-24 -"You have come...²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

"Here, then is the voice of the gospel; it is not the sound of a trumpet, nor the voice of words spoken in terrible majesty (Sinai); but the blood speaks, and assuredly there is no sound more piercing, more potent, more prevailing. God heard the voice of Abel's blood and visited Cain with condign punishment for killing his brother; and the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cries in the ears of God with a voice which is ever heard. How can it be imagined that the Lord God should be deaf to the cry of His Son's sacrifice? Lo, these many ages the blood has cried - 'Forgive them! Forgive them! Accept them! Deliver them from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom!' " CH Spurgeon "The Blood of Sprinking" February 28, 1886.

Oh! precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

For my cleansing this my plea,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Now by this I’ll overcome—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus,

Now by this I’ll reach my home—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus - Lowry - 1876

the star thrower

2011-02-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

From "The Promise of Paradox - Parker J. Palmer (http://amzn.com/0787996963)

“Loren Eiseley tells a story that helps me feel the power of recognizing and embracing life’s contradictions. The great naturalist once spent time in a seaside town called Costabel. Plagued by his lifelong insomnia, Eiseley spent the early morning hours walking on the beach. And every day at sunrise, he found townspeople combing the sand for starfish that had washed ashore during the night to kill them for commercial purposes. For Eiseley, it was a sign, however small, of all the ways the world says no to life.

One morning, Eiseley went out unusually early and discovered a solitary figure on the beach. This man, too, was gathering starfish, but each time he found one alive, he would pick it up and throw it as far as he could out beyond the breaking surf, back to the ocean from which it came. Eiseley found this man on his mission of mercy every morning, day after day, no matter the weather.

Eiseley named this man “the star thrower.” In a moving meditation, he writes of how this man and his predawn work contradicted everything Eiseley had been taught about evolution and the survival of the fittest. Here on the beach in Costabel the strong reached down to save, not crush, the weak. And Eiseley wonders, is there a star thrower at work in the universe, a God who contradicts death, whose nature (to quote the words of Thomas Merton) is ‘mercy within mercy within mercy’?”

The words of eternal life

2010-11-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

John 6:60-69

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

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The Words of Eternal Life

What do they sound like? What would they promise? These "words" of eternal life. How are they different from other words? Words of temporary life. Words of eternal life seem to elicit a sense of transcendent meaning, something outside reality giving the words extra, super-natural, eternal meaning. I have heard someone say that words are like buckets and we as humans put meaning into those buckets. What kind of meaning would Peter have perceived to have associated Jesus' words as eternal? "You have the Words of Eternal Life" Peter says. Jesus helps us to understand something beyond ourselves. He is our translator. Jesus quotes Isaiah when he says "They will be taught by God" (John 6:45). God in a man-suit, our great immanuel, steps in to our reality, opens his mouth and speaks. "The Word became Flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). If you found them would you listen? Would you follow their instruction? Would you tell others? Would you cover your ears or look for noise to drown them out? Would you hide out in rationalization? Letting the resistance win.

Or like Peter simple say, "I have no choice - you have the words of eternal life, you are my only hope. I am all in. Whatever you say."

Lewis and Edwards on the Layers of Self-Admiration from desiringGod

2009-08-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1962_lewis_and_edwards_on_the_layers_of_selfadmiration/

How Hearts Are Softened - C.H. Spurgeon - 9/18/1887

2009-08-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Zechariah 12:10-11 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. "

Slightly altered to today's english

Nothing good can come out of a stony heart; it is barren as a rock. To be unfeeling is to be unfruitful. Prayer without desire, praise without emotion, preaching without earnestness – what are all these? Like the marble images of life, they are cold and dead. Insensibility is a deadly sign. Frequently it is the next stage to destruction.

I. Observe that holy tenderness arises out of divine operation. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.”

- It is not in fallen man to renew his own heart. Can the adamant turn itself to wax, or the granite soften itself to clay? Only He that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth can form and reform the spirit of man within him. The power to make the rock of our nature flow with rives of repentance is not in the rock itself.
- The Spirit of God is prompt to give life and feeling. In ancient times He moved upon the face of the waters, and by His power order came out of confusion. The same Spirit at this time broods over our souls, and reduces the chaos of our natural state to light and life and obedience. There lies the hope of our ruined nature. Jehovah who made us can make us over again. Our case is not beyond His power. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? He can change the millstone into a mass of feeling, and dissolve iron and steel into a flood of tears. When He deals with the human mind by His secret and mysterious operations, He fills it with new life, perception, and emotion.
- The Holy Spirit makes us like wax, and we become impressible to His sacred seal. Remember, you that are hard of heart, that your hope lies this way; God Himself, who melts the icebergs of the arctic, must make your soul to yield up its hardness in the presence of His love. Nothing short of the work of God within you can effect this…The Spirit of God must work regeneration in you. He is able of stones to raise up children of Abraham; but until He works you are dead and insensible.
- God’s aim is that grace may reign by delivering us from our natural impenitence, and by causing us to sorrow because we have sinned… Do not think, therefore that when you feel the Holy Ghost melting you, that the Father will refuse you; it is He that sent the Holy Ghost to deal with you. Imagine not that you can feel repentance for sin and bow in sorrow at the Savior’s feet, and that Jesus will reject you; for it is He who sent the Spirit of grace to bring you to repentance, and make you mourn because of the ill which you have done.
- The Spirit is as the wind, invisible save by its effects. The Holy Ghost comes as the dew which in soft silence refreshes the tender herb. North with sound of trumpet or observation of man doth the Spirit perform his gracious deeds. His working is one of the secrets and mysteries which no man can explain to his fellow…Do not, therefore, expect to be informed when the Spirit is upon you.
- The Holy Spirit can make your heart as tender as the apple of the eye, and cause your conscience to be as sensitive as a raw wound, which feels the slightest touch. God grant us grace to deal with Him about these things, and not to be looking to ourselves. As well hope to extract juice from the stones of the sea-beach, as spiritual feeling from the carnal mind. He who can make the dray bones lice, and He alone, can make the hardened mourn over sin.

2 Thessalonians - Thoughts

2009-07-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. 16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

While mowing the law tonight it dawned on me that God knew everything I would every do, not do, say, think, or feel. He HAD full disclosure on me, and yet despite of what he knew was coming, decided to draw me in. The implications of such an act are fantastic - and freeing. It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free. However, the realty of how God looks at me is still a daunting concept. I find it difficult to believe that God looks at me the same way I look at my baby boy. The bible is very clear that he does, that he is as jealously protective of us as we are of our children. That he wishes to give us gifts, and seeks our good, just like our parents. If I am the apple of God's eye I wish I could see what he sees - what would that change? I think my parents think of me that way, did that make any difference on how I treat them? Maybe that is why God affords us the ability to have children, in order to taste what he tastes, feel what he feels. It is impossible to understand how a parent feels about their child until you have one yourself. Additionally it is impossible to understand how a lover feels about their love without having had a similar relationship. I wonder if all human realtionships and interactions are visual aides helping us to better understand our creator and how to relate to him. He is both our lover and our Judge; our sibling and our Parent; our Priest and our Sacrfice; our King.

I am glad he chose me.

2 Thessalonians 3:5
5May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

G.K. Chesterton Quote

2009-06-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

"Man is most comforted by paradoxes."
by G.K. Chesterton

The Moment of Surrender - U2

2009-06-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Moment of Surrender

I tied myself with wire
To let the horses run free
Playing with the fire
Until the fire played with me

The stone was semi-precious
We were barely conscious
Two souls too cool to be
In the realm of certainty
Even on our wedding day

We set ourselves on fire
Oh God, do not deny her
It's not if I believe in love

But if love believes in me

Oh, believe in me

At the moment of surrender
I folded to my knees

I did not notice the passers-by

And they did not notice me

I've been in every black hole

At the altar of the dark star

My body's now a begging bowl

That's begging to get back, begging to get back

To my heart

To the rhythm of my soul

To the rhythm of my unconsciousness

To the rhythm that yearns

To be released from control

I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine

I could see in the reflectionA face staring back at me

At the moment of surrenderOf vision over visibility

I did not notice the passers-byAnd they did not notice me

I was speeding on the subway

Through the stations of the cross

Every eye looking every other way

Counting down 'til the pentecost

At the moment of surrender

Of vision of over visibility

I did not notice the passers-by

And they did not notice me

The Return of The Prodigal Son – Henri Nouwen

2008-09-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

pg. 106 -

“For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life – pray always, work for others, read the Scriptures – and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair.

Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?” The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God? And, finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?” God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home. In all three parables which Jesus tells in response to the question of why he eats with sinners, he puts the emphasis on God’s initiative. God is the shepherd who goes looking for his lost sheep. God is the woman who lights a lamp, sweeps out the house, and searches everywhere for her lost coin until she has found it. God is the father who watches and waits for his children, runs out to meet them, embraces them, pleads with them, begs and urges them to come home.

It might sound strange, but God wants to find me as much as, if not more then, I want to find God. Yes, God needs me as much as I need God. God is not the patriarch who stays home, doesn’t move, and expects his children to come to him, apologize for their aberrant behavior, beg for forgiveness, and promise to be better. To the contrary, he leaves the house, ignoring his dignity by running toward them, pays no heed to apologies and promises of change, and brings them to the table richly prepared for them.”

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Acts 17:26

26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Matthew 7:22

22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Matthew 3:11-12 Commentary Thought

2008-09-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

"Amos sounded a clear warning, to his generation, to Jesus' generation and to ours, when we prove more quick to judge others than ourselves: "Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD," for it will be a day of reckoning (Amos 5:18). Sometimes skeptics appeal to evil in the world to deny God's existence; instead they should be applauding his mercy in giving them time to repent, because when God decisively abolishes evil, he will have to abolish them (see 2 Pet 3:3-9).
Second, John warns that the wicked will be burned, just as farmers destroy useless products after the harvest. Harvest and the threshing floor (3:8, 10, 12) were natural images to use in agrarian, rural Palestine. Earlier biblical writers had used these images to symbolize judgment and the end time (as in Ps 1:4; Is 17:13; Hos 13:3; Joel 3:13); Jesus (Mt 9:38; 13:39; 21:34) and his contemporaries (4 Ezra 4:30-32; Jub. 36:10) also used the image. (Fire naturally symbolized future judgment, as in Is 66:15-16, 24; 1 Enoch 103:8.) Villagers carried grain to village threshing floors; large estates worked by tenants would have their own (N. Lewis 1983:123). When threshers tossed grain in the air, the wind separated out the lighter, inedible chaff. The most prominent use of this chaff was for fuel (CPJ 1:199). But while chaff burned quickly, John depicts the wicked's fire as unquenchable. Many of his contemporaries believed that hell was only temporary (for example, t. Sanhedrin 13:3, 4), but John specifically affirmed that it involved eternal torment, drawing on the most horrible image for hell available in his day.
Many of us today are as uncomfortable as John's contemporaries with the doctrine of eternal torment; yet genuinely considering and believing it would radically affect the way we live. That John directs his harshest preaching toward religious people (Mt 3:7) should also arouse some introspection on our part (see also Blomberg 1992:142-43). Even for the saved, the knowledge that all private thoughts will be brought to light (10:26) should inspire self-discipline when other humans are not watching. Our culture prefers a comfortable message of God's blessing on whatever we choose to do with our lives; God reminds us that his Word and not our culture remains the final arbiter of our destiny."

"God reminds us that his Word and not our culture remains the final arbiter of our destiny."

Self Awareness vs. Christ-awarness

2008-08-20T07:10:00.001-07:00

My Utmost for His Highest - August 20

“Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, "Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already." Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute…..If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, "Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest," that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.”

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I believe this to be a plague in the modern American - including the plague in my own heart. Self-Awareness always begins with SELF...isn't there a magazine called "Self"?... We are (I am) self-focused, self-centered, self-important, self-confident, self-sustaining, self-indulgent, self-motivated, self-made, self-corrected, self-loved. It is very interesting to me the Oswald Chambers calls "Self-Pity" satanic - I completely agree. If we are trusting in ourselves, we are not trusting in God. If we are focused on ourselves, we cannot focus on God nor on what calls us to focused on - namley others. That is why the second chapter of Philippians so stings my conscience - "2:5-8 -Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Christ, the King of Kings, the creator of everything, the Everlasting God - humbles himself - becoming human and subjecting himself to our mistreatment and finally our execution. Christ is the ultimate example of humility. From the manger, to the footwashing, to the thorns, to trash dump where he was killed. He subjected himself to God's will - gave his Self up to God's will. Maybe that is why so many Christians talk about dying to their selves. Paul says to the Ephesians - 4:21 - You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds. It seems a bit disheartening as I think about dying to myself, but I don't think that God is intending us to lose any uniqueness of our individuality - Christ gives us our true self back. Isn't that really the whole story of Christianity. God, so loved you, that he sought to give you a new identity, a new family status, a new name, a new hope. He gives you everything you can't give yourself. As we lose our self-awarness and become Christ-Aware we find our true identity. In Christ we find rest, and more importantly we find purpose. Things make sense. Things are right. I can worship. I can hope. I can love. Because it is not me that has to make it right - it is Christ in me - my true identity.

The Boxer

2008-08-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWUCoJJS2DU
Paul Simon - The Boxer

"In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him
til he cried out in his anger and his shame I am leaving, I am leaving,
but the fighter still remains
Yes he still remains"

Romans 7:15-25
15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Gratitude

2008-08-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

Alfred Painter -
"Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality."

Blue - Lyrics and Music by Sean Kelly

2008-08-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48K8m8kAy-I

Is it me or just the weather
the sun has trouble shining through
a smile is gone but not forever
above the clouds I know it’s blue
I know it’s blue
I think it’s time to look beyond me
for who I loved has gone away
I think it was worth the walk and talking
although I had not much to saynot much to say
Is it me or just the window
the sun has trouble shining through
it takes the rain to make a rainbow
above the clouds I know it’s blue
I know it’s blue

James 1:2-4 & 12
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything....12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

C.H. Spurgeon sermon - "Individual Sin Laid on Jesus"

2008-07-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Christ in the Old Testament - pg. 606 & 607

"Jesus was accepted as the natural substitute and representative of all who trust Him, and all the sin of these was laid on Him, so that they were freed from guilt. Jesus was regarded as if all these sins were His sins, was punished as if these were His sins, was put to shame, forsaken of God, and delivered to death as if He Had been a sinner; and thus through divine grace those who actually committed the sins are permitted to go free. They have satisfied justice through the sufferings of their substitute." ........"we have each chosen our own way of sin, but those sins are not ours now, they are laid on our great Substitute if we are trusting in Him; He has paid to the utmost farthing all the debt of those sins, has borne the fullness of divine wrath, and there is no wrath against us. Just as the bullock was laid on the altar to be burnt, God's wrath came like a consuming fire and burnt the bullock, and there was no fire left; so when the wrath of God fell on Christ, it consumed Him, and there was no fire left, no wrath left, it spent itself. God has no anger against a soul that believes in Jesus, neither has that soul any sin, for its sin has been laid on Christ, and it cannot be in two places at once: Christ has carried it, and the sin has ceased to be - and the believing soul though in itself as black as hell, is now as bright as Christ Himself when He was transfigured, for Christ has finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness."

Godisnowhere...The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis

2008-07-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

Finally he whispers, “Who are you?” And he hears, “One who has waited long for you to speak.” Shasta is terrorized and says, “Oh, I am the most unlucky person in all the whole world.” And the Voice says, “Tell me your sorrows.” And Shasta does. He unloads all of his sorrows, his litany of woes. “I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice. “Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta. “There was only one lion,” said the Voice. . . . “I was the lion.” And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.” “Then it was you who wounded Aravis?” “It was I.” “But what for?” “Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.” “Who are you?” asked Shasta. “Myself,” said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again “Myself,” loud and clear and gay: and then the third time “Myself,” whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with
it.
Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new and different sort of trembling came over him.