The Wicked Dismantle Bricks From Rome; The Good Lay Them Down

God leads Christians to build great things, but recognizing that we are fallacious and frail and sinners, has shown us the way of the Cross to, during this short life on this world, learn the ways of God, the ways of love, in preparation of this true world to come. If one’s heart is discouraged, to see a rising film student get replaced by someone who is a nephew of the nepotist, or to see a brave knight cheated in battle in a sin against honor, or a student fail to earn a scholarship because someone had a reference letter from Bill Clinton, here in all of these people there is a pearl, a pearl of precious price, despised by the world but loved by God. In this heart is God, and God does not forget one brick we ever place on anything we do, but keeps them eternally in his own heart; they are his, in a mystery, which he has given to us to build upon, and which he has placed with wisdom to lead us towards his Kingdom to come.

Even though this world is passing away, and its goods are dust; there is a value in all things as they exist in God. We are called deny ourselves, and not the goods of the world; we are called to give up ourselves entirely to God, in order to live his life in the world – in which in a mystery, we will find ourselves loving everything in the world far more than those who place the world first on their hearts.

Our life of self denial is not a hatred despising the world and seeking its destruction (that is evil); our call is not to deny ourselves in order to make the object of our worship poverty, and all men utterly reliant on God. Our call is to turn from our evil inclinations to worldly trinkets and possessions, to turn from these attachments as we love God and God alone; placing him only on the sacred spot of our hearts – because our true treasure is God.

In Christ all worldly goods are nothing; because God is everything. Yet somehow, in Christ, do we have a true love for these created things – in the order of God his light restores to our hearts. He is perfect love in which all things come and all things return, and in whom all things have their true nature of being. As Christ specifically teaches to all of us, whoever we are, we seek in this life to store our treasure in Heaven, to seek Heaven wherever we are during our short time on this earth. Jesus teaches us to live for Heaven and not for this world, to seek those things that are imperishable, and not those things that will pass with time.

This is a strict rule of faith, that if we ever seek anything for the end of this world only, the light of Heaven is far away, and we do not find the joy we once sought; yet if we seek first God, then this pours out of our hearts without hindrance, because in God we are in the true Kingdom to come. In this life, this hope, this end which we are called, is the ocean of light which infinitely eclipses what drops of sand this world holds as valuable.

We are called to lead people out of this pit, out of this hell, out of this darkness and into the light! We are called to snatch people out of the darkness of sin (Jude 1:23) and raise them up into the light of Heaven, of Jesus, of God who is among us, guiding us all into a deeper relationship with him. And we are never truly alive in this life, unless we enter through the Gates of Heaven; and in this eternity we are at peace, and there is a promise beneath our feet, that this is Heaven, this is eternity, and though it is a warzone, there is always hope as God transforms us to be children; teaching us that the way to conquer is not through man’s ambition or plans or understanding, but through smiling at our neighbor, in being willing at an instant to go over and help, to accepting the little things we must do with a joyful heart; emptying ourselves of what we want; replaced instead by the holy love of God, our Creator and our Lord – revealed to us sinners as we turn from sin and to the light; as we resist our own inclination to evil, our own stubborness to be open in our hearts to Jesus, and instead pour ourselves out completely into a love for him. We are released of every burden, and transformed into images of him! How good it is when the soul is free, willing to sacrifice everything, led by nothing but the light of the Holy Spirit towards the good he makes clear to us; led by God to raise up a true Kingdom from this falling world, in a hope for the one which is to come – which we wish to enter with all of our hearts, as we truly spend time in the peace and trust of God our hope.

And though we recognize everything we do is passing, we are not called to be idle, but to are inspired to serve all the more, create all the more, and do all the more good in the world around us. Is the joy in building a model, clutching the finished model to our hearts – or in the building of the car, step by step? Its true fun was always in God, and at the end, we do not care as much if the car is lost – the fun was not in the object, but in God as we created it as led by his love. In the same way all things that are good are not of this world, but in God; and our joy is daily received from God, as we choose not to idle, to wallow, or to dwell in ourselves and our own want; but to get up, and walk, and enjoy the day as led by him!

The hope he gives us leads us to action, not idleness; he inspires us to joy, to bear fruit for the Kingdom to come. We are not called to throw aside everything in this world as worthless, in order to sit cross legged in a desert, wondering what to do. We are not called to hate the world, but to love God as God is in the world; to build, to nurture, to tend with love to all those things God has given us. Whether we are janitors doing our work in the mall, or leaders of a business spanning across many nations, the love of Jesus always wills for the best possible good before us; which often disagrees with our own will, and may often confound our will; which is why we must first deny ourselves in favor of serving God’s way. So long as our hearts are in him, loving him above all things, and going forth as he leads – there God works through us his servants, to accomplish his mission here on earth – to live the life of Jesus to build up the good in each other, and in the world around us.

Whether in sports, or class, or work, or any other activity we do, God calls us to empty ourselves from the desire of self, and instead humbly walk in the way of Heaven – in which abound all those things that are beautiful, from which flow all that is good in the world, which remains good and in its true purpose so long as God remains at the center of it. If Star Wars was full of fun and adventure in its first iteration, with the first trilogy remaining faithful to the original story, then it was led by Heaven. As it continued, and was corrupted in the pursuit of money over the pursuit of God in the story, then it fell from its original purpose – a good story – and became corrupt in a desire apart from God; the love of money. This movie was good, and so long as the good was sought in the story, it would be very good – something that was put into existence by the joyful, creative Spirit of God working through the hearts of its creators. In their service of God they were led – like we all are – to do their job with all their hearts, to give everything to it, to not seek their own way but the way revealed in love; and therefore everything in this world is itself a product of this love, only evil if we stand in the way of God.

To serve Christ, means to seek the good of everything all around us; to do good work, to build good cities, to raise up a holy people – his Church. Because of sin, this Kingdom of Heaven is corrupted, and its light marred, and the goodness of the Church besieged by those who seek themselves over God. In evil attachments to worldly goods, the good is destroyed and society crumbles; in complete resignation to Christ alone, we are led by his Spirit to raise up the good in the world, and build the Kingdom wherever we are – to make homes, lead group activities, nurture families, create stories, and enjoy music. The end of these things is not our worship, but only Jesus; it is only through our resignation to him that we are restored into the light of Heaven, and begin to live a life in Heaven as we no longer live for ourselves, but for God; receiving all that is good through the light of his grace and mercy alone. Though our hope is in the world to come, our lives are a witness to the world to come; and we can find the Kingdom right in front of us, visible to all who look. It is the same Kingdom which is with a child who joyfully creates a city in Minecraft, as a teacher who leads her students to study English, as the leader of a Sunday School teaches her students about the Bible. There is one Kingdom, one truth, one love uniting the Body of Christ – a love which calls us to serve, to build, to explore, and to go on many adventures. Yet this fun, this love, this diving deep into the wonder of God does not make us a friend to the world; but sets us in opposition to it – this love is rare, a precious pearl, and is attacked wherever we are by opposition; be it in arguments at the office, systems founded erroneously, in groups of bullies, in all those crowds in which hearts are seeking only the root of themselves, who live by no law but themselves.

This Kingdom abides in the midst of a world disconnected from God, a world in rebellion against God. To go into a school, or even to go into Walmart, leads us into this world of sin beset by many shadows; where if one walks in light, one quickly strikes against a battle underway on every human soul. We are evil, meaning, that if we take any action at all, it rises from self will; we can only do one thing necessary to build this Kingdom, and that is to deny ourselves, and open the door to Jesus. If we submit ourselves to live as servants, the love of Jesus flows through us, and we are joyful in all that we do, eager to move and build the Kingdom wherever we are – true servants of God’s house.

This light is opposed by the world; though this candle seeks to flicker in every generation, and the multitudes chase after this light in all avenues of sin and pleasure, those who receive this light of Christ and follow him are few; this love of God is a rare gem in the midst of the noise of this world. How quick we sinners are to dedicate our lives to any road that is of this world only: in music, in movies, in video games, in comics. We spend hours upon hours becoming experts in all these unimportant matters, which though they themselves are not evil (it is fun to watch a Marvel movie) and are even a fruit of the Kingdom of Heaven (if only that these good things were created by the first mover who is God), do not demand us to submit to God.

This is the crux, the Cross we are called to carry; the life of difficulty and suffering which is averse to us humans, who often desire, in our hearts, to go the way of ease and comfort. All joy and love and paradise is in the heart of Jesus, which he desires to pour out to all of us beyond measure; to bestow upon our hearts every possible blessing in every possible world, raising us up from everything we are into a light beyond all our comprehension. He is the great gift giver, the good God, the Lord who is himself the greatest love we can possibly know – all the love we have for the created things of this world, is an outpouring from the love we hold for our Creator God. As we receive him in faith, there is true joy; as we seek and hope for his goodness, to enjoy all the life he has given, to seek the true good only contained in him – all that we love, all that we rejoice to do with eager hearts, is only a reflection of him.

We create many things, but only through the light of the Lord; we build up many cities and families, which are only brought to order by the light of the Lord. The world is daily sustained, nourished, and held into existence by God, who is the Shepherd of it all – and those who are his servants tend well to this garden, acting not as abysses of shadow scavenging upon the scraps for ourselves, but as stewards happy in the service of the Lord, tending patiently to whatever we have been given. As sinners, we always are eager to take these received gifts and use them for our own will; and this is where we must not be attached to these things, but must deny ourselves, and submit to the love of God – which will set us back in the truth, that he is the greatest good, and lead us on the path of Heaven, wherein wherever we are, we are serving the Kingdom.

Thus in something of a paradox: those who love the world and cling with all of their hearts to what the world gives: popularity, wealth, pleasure, and all those false lights of sin, walk a road whose end is nothing. The wicked destroy what exists, and seek only their own death. Whereas they who do not have any attachment to the world – such as Abraham and Job, whose hearts were tested by the Lord – have all the more love for the world, patient in adversity, willing always to accomplish the good around them, building and tending in love to what God has given. God is our root, God is our anchor, in God we have a restoration to truth, the truth in which all blessings flow as natural consequence of who God is: our Creator and our God. All that is given, is then a cause for rejoicing; and all that is taken, is still a cause for rejoicing – this light that restores balance to our hearts, in which the Kingdom is in harmony within us even as we live in this world so deceived by its own sinfulness, is God and God alone. If we place our hearts in him, then we are like Jesus, like God who was human himself: always seeking the good of everything around us, a good which is infinite and creative, which will not be – because of the reality of sin – ever fulfilled in this life, but persecuted, and that without relent. Only until this world ends, destroyed in its own sin, will this good we know, this good which is obvious, this love of Jesus be brought into all fullness – and we will live in a Kingdom eternal where we build and create alongside God for all eternity; as we are shown in brief part as we walk in the world we live in now, in which there is a daily battle to place God over the sinful attachments of our hearts.

Thus we must listen to God and follow his wisdom which never changes nor is ever dissuaded by any human argument, to seek nothing but God above all else in the lives we walk, as Jesus tells us is the most important commandment of them all:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)