Continued…

“There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores. 

“Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I’m in agony in this fire.’ 

“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’ 

“The rich man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won’t end up here in this place of torment.’ 

“Abraham answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.’ 

“‘I know, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they’re not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.’ 

“Abraham replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.’” -Luke‬ ‭16:19-31‬ (msg)

In my faith journey, this story has become more real. The chasm created between me, who believes Jesus is everything, and those who do not. I cannot cross over completely into their world and they cannot cross into mine… not while they are still relying on their own reasoning, rooted in self and worldly terms… and I, disconnecting from the world – but that doesn’t mean God ceases to see them or that His Love doesn’t cover all. Obviously God still sees them because the rich man is talking to Abraham. And if God still sees him; God still loves him because He can’t become what He is not and God is in fact, Love. 

But the chasm is real, evil cannot stand up against the Light that is Jesus, and darkness and light cannot co-exist; Light casts out the darkness. In His love, I am protected from within. No evil is allowed into the Light. My body can be destroyed, and this broken world will in fact and is already killing my body. Evil can only destroy what is not made to last. God in me, the divine part of me, will never fade out… just like it won’t fade out even in our worst enemies.

I just need to clarify something. I don’t consider myself to be perfectly saved or surrendered, but every day, I pray I become more and more complete in Him, more fully His, surrendered to His Perfect Will and Love…. The chasm will grow wider.

To be continued…