OUR HOPE OF HEAVEN...THE FATHER WITHIN

In pondering agree with your adversary quickly, I suspect we make a mistake in believing because we agreed, that we're loving. No. There's a hard-rock scramble between lips agreeing and heart loving.

That scramble is 100 percent ego-deflation in depth. And ego deflation cannot be done by the reasoning mind...but that's where it starts. There and with our want to...which is hard enough to come to.

Face it, trying to do loving toward our adversary before we've given God a chance to do his wonders within us boils down to a self-determined objective, and a self-determined objective is just that no matter how pretty we dress it. No doubt it has God's good idea within it, but surrendering our precious self-will for another's benefit is a BIG ask. The key being that word surrender.

I say little if any true spiritual growth happens within us without a boatload of surrender happening first. That's the detach, let go, release, subtract, change your mind part we hear about from the spiritual masters. They tell us that's what must happen, we set to work to cause it to happen, we fail, we try harder, we fail, we try...until the dreaded/blessed crash-and-burn saves us from our self.

The glory of spiritual growth is our failures in the trying...that's where all the lessons learned hide out. Who's kidding whom? We try everything we can personally think of...and fail...before we can come wholly to God. That's us being divested of ego, a.k.a. ego-deflation in depth. Fun it is not, but neither is not drowning...the end result is best, though.

The inner message of the Sermon on the Mount is just so. We agree quickly, we turn  the other cheek, etc., and because we do, we believe we are free of self. But spiritual growth is not a one-shot deal...unless we realize and accept that this one-shot deal is lifelong.

The egoic mind is ever with us...24/7. Ah, but so is God. There's our hope of Heaven...to stay turned to and tuned into the Father within. Hey, he does the work...now to let him.

The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. -- John 14:10

Thank you.