“Come, follow Me.”
(Luke 18:22, Matthew 16:24, Mark 1:17, Luke 9:23)
We can observe commandments, believe doctrines, and attend church services all our lives and still lose our souls if we avoid the essential cycle of loss and renewal. Every level of creation is subject to death and resurrection, but only one species thinks it can avoid it—the human species.
The deep and mysterious matrix of new life is this: as with love, we do not handle suffering; suffering handles us and takes us into life-giving experiences.
The cross became the central Christian symbol, but the message of inevitable suffering and its necessity is avoided, even disbelieved. When He said, “come follow me,” Jesus invited us into the same pattern.
We are not punished FOR our sins; we are punished BY our sins (such as blindness, egocentricity, illusions, or pride). If we do not transform our pain, we will inevitably transmit it in some form.
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