A True Conversation Leads Always to God

Faith in God is faith in truth. The literal obvious straight in front of our noses truth is God; to find him look! Human beings are far more attracted to an appearance of luster, of great tales of all sorts of fantastical possibilities, of stones and trinkets and amulets with magical properties, that draw us in because we want the magic for ourselves and our own curiosity. But these things do not do these things, that is superstition; idols do not create themselves, they are statues of stone or wood or whatever the crafter has made. They do not have spiritual properties, different objects do not have what value we place on them; that is evil, selfish, false. God is right here, present in all we do, not far nor in any obscure theory, but right with us; as soon as we break away from false fixations, our eyes are opened, and we live, and living is inseparable from God.

The deceit of the modern world is strong – do not get caught up in it, do not get in the boat, do not bend below the reasoning of the world; but speak simplicity in truth, in God; and God, being faithful and obvious in himself, will lead all to himself – it is impossible for a good conversation not to go to God; on any subject at all.

If a converastion does not have its final point in God, it is a broken conversation, and I am a bad conversationalist – everything we do, is like a series of stair steps, that we either go up or down. If we go down we will be in the obscurity of the world as we talk about many unimportant matters; these conversations are like candles never lit, wicks that are here but not being used, sputtering momentarily but never actually lighting the room – and they fall empty into nothing, not enduring, because they are in their nature absent of the light, of truth, of love, of God.

A good conversation climbs up a series of stair steps, building on what came before, expanding as music on each succesive point as we both explore something beautiful; and this exploration into a conversation is natural to love, and grows where two hearts are alive in the light; active and engaging, and this is the light which so many young people are so eager to find, which the adults in the room stubbornly refuse to concede to, as they adopt the world’s culture and adorn what dust the world promises to those who reject God’s love.

Any child who goes to a picnic, or swimming, or to a hike will be repelled by walking into the modern office – and will rather be eager to get out and find the sun outside, to go and explore God who is good – unless there is someone there in the office who is acting and alive in truth, speaking in love, talking in love, in the life and light of the Holy Spirit to speak in the truth of our existence, which is God. Any conversation not in God is not in this room and is evil, and a child would not be welcome here; but all conversations that are good naturally follow to God, to praise, to worship. Jesus is inseparable from good; Jesus is good; Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Speak as one in the family of God, where all things that are holy are gifts that can be shared with others as very good stories! Speak as one already in the Kingdom – this is essential – united with the heart of Jesus in opposition to every weed of the world; even if this leads us to poverty or to persecution – which Scripture assures us, is inevitable when confronting the kingdom of darkness:

“If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:20)

If we get in the same boat as the world, we will quickly be caught in many a false chamber of reasoning, and begin to believe the simple truth of Jesus is hidden behind many vain arguments. But if we go forwards with the assurance of faith, that we are speaking not for our own will, but for the will of God; what we do is therefore holy, a good conversation that will last forever in the Kingdom, the only civilization that will endure; whereas every other opposition will pass away. There is only one truth, and that is in Jesus; and we who are called to be his children carry the light of this truth, entrusted with a very great treasure to proclaim before others; in which all the world will denounce us and attack us, but will at the last day, have no ground to stand on. What they raised against us was rooted in self, in pride, in error; whereas we speak in the simple truth of God, which endures forever.

Every conversation will, as tomorrow comes, continue to be a good conversation, a joy, in so much as God was present in it. Our lives are created to be eternal, with God, and all unsettled questions have their final weight alone in God; and anchored in God, even against the world, we will endure like St Stephen, and the early martyrs of Rome, and those of Nazi Germany, and all people who remain obedient to love against the hatred of the world. Many voices rise against us, sowing temptations of doubts in our own hearts. But nothing will endure except for Jesus; and so also will every word we say, as we hold to faith in his promise, and do not concede to the world’s many crafty arguments.

Where is Nero now? Do not obey his successor. Where are the Bolsheviks? Pay no heed to their doctrine saturating all our libraries. They will pass away, but God’s Kingdom endures forever; be like the woman who professed her faith before her murderers at Columbine, standing on truth even against the show of power of the devil, who we will find has the sway over much territory we thought innocent in this world; but who will not endure, and cannot endure, as we remain firm speaking Christ, our eyes on the ball, our eyes on home, our eyes set on the world that is to come.