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Life is like a pond, and every decision and act we commit, good or bad, is a pebble flung into it. The ripples spread in widening circles.
The answer isn’t in removing things from your life or adding more rules to follow. The answer is giving your life back to the God who created you. And he’s every bit as real as flesh and blood, the earth, reason. But I can’t make you see that. I can’t open your eyes and ears.”
They wanted something they could manipulate. God was inconceivable, intangible, incomprehensible, unexploitable. They didn’t want a life of self-sacrifice, purity, commitment, a life of Thy will be done, not mine. They wanted to be master of their own life, to have their own way, and be answerable to no one.
“How is it possible to hold such anger against something you don’t believe in?” she said and continued along the path.
“My father heard Jesus say that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man would be lifted up.” He thought then he understood what she was saying, though not her reasons for it. “You speak of his resurrection.” “No. I speak of his crucifixion. He was nailed to a cross and set up before all mankind. He is the standard.”
“When they’re young, they trample on your toes. When they grow up, they trample on your heart.”
Turning away from Julia Valerian now would mean turning away from the Lord, and without him life had no meaning.
God had sent her here for a purpose, and to his purpose she must yield. She could not count the cost.
Like all of humanity, she hungered for what was missing from birth and sought desperately to fill the emptiness within.
“I’m jealous by nature,” he confessed. “It’s not something of which I’m proud.”
“I never knew you could be so cold and cruel, Marcus.” “I’d have to go a long way to catch up with you.”
Forgiveness received could not be withheld. He must pour it out upon his sister, whether he wanted to or not.
Some come to realize the depravity of what they see and turn away from it. Others become seared, numb to the suffering of others. They need more and more excitement to satisfy them, until nothing satisfies.
Aren’t we all like that, Marcus? Fallible. Afraid. Weak in our faith. And still Jesus loves us and points the way to real freedom and what it means.”
But salvation required more than remorse. It required repentance. It required Christ.
“You do have a way of cutting to the heart of things.”
An image of her own father rose like a demon, gripping her mind with anger and fear. Remembered violence. She shuddered and pressed it away. Judge not lest ye be judged. Forgive and be forgiven. Ask and it shall be given. She grasped hold of the promises, clinging.
Lord, walk with me through this valley. Talk with me. Open my ears and heart that I may hear.
