BOOMERANG EFFECT

CHAPTER 9

The Cross! Yes! But how?

 

We are accustomed to consider the Cross, or for some the "Te", as the supreme sacrifice toward which each must tend, to resemble Jesus in order to be a good Christian.

In a sense, the thing is true, for it is certain that everyone will have to accept to lose the share of sin in him, to be born to the abundant life of joy and holiness that God wants to give us, in the balance of all things. Be careful, however, not to confuse our own cross, due to sin in us, to His due to the total absence of sin in Him. Attention also that the vision of our "cross" is not a mortification on our part, which leads to the attitude of the previous chapter. Be careful, again, that our motive is not to be like Jesus, in order to be as pleasing to God as He was, as if to better match his work in a competition between us and possibly to overcome Him. Indeed, we have already seen and will see further on the error committed by those who wish to become good by themselves, by overcoming their sin.

The Supreme Sacrifice is true, for it is the one whom no man, born from flesh, could lead. He certainly accomplished it for us, but that must NEVER, EVER mask the Truth of VICTORY AT THE CROSS.

This victory is indeed that of Jesus, who did not give his life for us in spirit of sacrifice, in order to mortify himself with morbidity, but who did it on the contrary by obedience to God.

Why by obedience? Because he was the ONLY by his divine birth, to be able to fulfill the totality of the perfect Law that God had given to Moses! This law which says itself in (Deuteronomy 27-26) Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.//

Or still in (James 2-10): For whoever shall keep the whole law and shall offend in one [point], he has come under the guilt of [breaking] all.//

The Cross is indeed the perfect realization, the concretization, the final touch that brought Jesus to the fulfillment of the TOTALITY of the LAW, without leaving a single iota aside, for which reason He was found without blemish before God. It would not be fair to feel aggrieved not to be able to undertake a work at least identical to his own, as if we were mentally retarded before a gifted one. It is not matter of mental incapacity on our part that we may feel frustrated, but a difference in nature between the human spiritual construction and the heavenly spiritual construction. The first is based on the selfish logic of the flesh conceived for the protection and comfort of the body, the very basis of sin in us, the second on the Love of our neighbor. The fulfillment of this law was therefore not of human size, since the psychology of all human beings is born of the animal kingdom, today as always under the tutelage of Satan, in a logic that does not belong to that of the Spirit of God.

Jesus, procreated in the logic of abundance of life of the Holy Spirit from the womb of his mother, did not therefore have to kill this selfish logic, but to keep it virgin by standing until the death of this body In the logic of the Spirit. He was therefore in no way superior to us as a human being, because he was subjected to any temptation to enter into reactions identical to ours. He might have done so, for instance, approving Peter, when he wished to defend him by raising his sword against Malchus and cutting off his ear. I do not want to proclaim words that are not in the biblical writings, but a child who cries for the purpose of swaying his mother to give him a whim to eat only what he likes, for example, is already in this carnal logic in which Jesus did not come. So it is not for the substitution of our sins toward Jesus that we come to Him, but indeed to adhere to the logic of renewal which himself has been made the guardian by God.

(2 Samuel 11-1/15) And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they laid waste the [land of the] children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David abode at Jerusalem.

And it came to pass at evening time that David arose from off his couch, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful; and David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Urijah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her; and she had purified herself from her uncleanness; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

And David sent to Joab [saying], Send me Urijah the Hittite. And Joab sent Urijah to David. And when Urijah had come to him, David asked how Joab prospered, and how the people prospered, and how the war prospered. And David said to Urijah, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Urijah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him presents from the king. And Urijah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. And they had told David saying, Urijah did not go down to his house; and David said to Urijah, Art thou not come from a journey? why didst thou not go down to thy house? And Urijah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields: shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [As] thou livest, and [as] thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. And David said to Urijah, Abide here to-day also, and to-morrow I will let thee depart. And Urijah abode in Jerusalem that day and the morrow. And David invited him, and he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but did not go down to his house.

And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by Urijah. And he wrote in the letter saying, Set Urijah in the front of the thickest fight, and withdraw from him, that he may be smitten and die.//

After having used cunning, and doubtless, have thought himself very strong to bring back the husband of Bath-Sheba, with the intention of making him carried the hat, rather than see in the refusal of the latter a wisdom equally good for him, David created a stratagem larger, but also more macabre. He embedded to follow the wrong path, as well as the bad "voice." Let us now look at how he became an accuser towards others, in front of a sin that was certainly highly reprehensible but less important than his own. (2 Samuel 11 26/27 and 12 1/15) And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.//

See how, in order to better conceal his own sin, his first attitude had been not only to condemn the reprehensible act in the other, but to exaggerate the sentence "this man deserves death." In front of the sin of others, he had got to the carnal religiosity which, in order to better conceal ourselves and those around us, takes the law literally for others, but always considers responsibility for his own faults to the perpetrators of the circumstances that led him to sin, even though he himself is the principal actor. Fortunately for him, David was a right man according to God. At the word of God given to him by the prophet Nathan, he was confounded and repented sincerely.

Since the time of King David, if one thing has not changed, it is indeed the heart of man. When we do evil, we always have the choice to repent or not, even to blame others. Do you believe that Christians escape at that? Even if they have decided to act honestly, unlike some, does it make them different from others? Is it always easy to admit one's own wrongs? And if it is difficult for everyone, I believe that the more the person is in the public eye, appreciated by all, and in a leading position, the more difficult it is, but also demonstrates his greatness of soul if he repents.

Would it not have been easier for David at that time, and in his position, to react haughtily and fall much lower still, for instance, by stoning of the prophet for insults toward his king? That's why David was a true man according to God. But for us? We, who criticize so easily what the others did or still do! Do we always act as honestly as David did in his repentance? Do we believe that our sin, even though very well concealed, will not produce the same kind of reactions that it produced on David? Some may act in the image of David for their forfeitures, but to his opposite for their repentance. No doubt they do not see them as in the time of David, to do killed by interposed person, but is not the language at least as effective to accomplish this kind of work? Is it for the love of others that they react, and that we react then? Do we place ourselves in this case before God as the advocates of our brothers or rather as their judges and executioners?

These brilliant Christians are: We ourselves, in relation to certain particular points of our life. David, as for him, repented sincerely, profoundly, and did not seek any longer to appear a "GREAT" man, but a simple subject of God.

It was also for this reason that he knew how to intercede in order that the sentence of God should not be applied, but that once applied he accepted it as justice. (2 Samuel 12: 16-23) And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.//

To go so far as to acknowledge his sin is good; To go so far as to repent of his own sin, is better; But to go so far as to recognize as justice, the sentence of God, in connection with our sin, is even better and even indispensable. Even more: If there is no acceptance of the sentence of God, it is because there was no REAL repentance. Certainly we must not fall into the search for a certain sanction, such as a need for humiliation; a self-flagellation against our sin, for God is good, and slow to anger. It must not attribute every misfortune that each man may experience as the punishment of his own sin, although it may be as we see it here, but we must know that sin produces death. If then, we sometimes refuse to see that our sin is the author of certain torments that we could very well have avoided, it is the best way we have to make sin live itself. God loves the sinner, but has a holy horror of sin.

As long as David knew God's sentence and kept hope of the survival of the child, he prayed fervently on the ground and fasted all the time of the illness without looking at the ridicule that he could represent for the others. He humbled himself and remained sincere in the violence which he did so long as the sentence was not fulfilled. Did he in any way go against to God or the men? Did he placed his mistake on Bathsheba, as the sinner who had seduced him? No! Absolutely not!

He only laid into himself, but agreed to keep the enjoyment of his own life. He certainly sought in prayer and fasting, to sway the LORD in his favor, but on the day when the sentence was applied, he did not ranted and raves about God who would have must granted him, or against the men who had not enough prayed with him, or I do not still know what rebellion. David regarded his punishment as righteousness of God, even though it would have been more agreeable to him to die himself. That is why he did not rebellion against anyone, great or small, men or God, and he even humbly explained his behavior to his servants.

Once again, whether we want it or not, sin produces death. It may be that in certain circumstances, depending on the severity of the acts, and the forgiveness given to the sinner, the consequences are more or less serious, but be careful not to DEBASE the GRACE of God. God loves the sinner, but he has the hatred of sin. Let us therefore repent of our faults, and even though we would try more or less righteously to invoke the clemency of men and that of God when we have sinned, know how to act as David did. Let us accept as righteousness the sentence of God and of men. If we do not do this, it is because our repentance does not exist in our hearts, and we want to enforce our OWN JUSTICE. The ecclesiast would say, it is a profound vanity. We will become otherwise, the accusers of our own brothers, even if they have not committed the tenth of our mistakes. We may even appear very zealous for the justice of God, and see for God Himself; but if we aspire that God transforms our heart of stone into a heart of flesh, let us act on the example of David: Let us pass by the Cross.

The testimony that we must give in evidence in our lives is the testimony of the Cross without, however, implying that for ourselves the thing is already finished, that people can follow us with confidence, because we are perfectly, and completely accomplished in Christ. Let us be cautious about the one whose we are following the advice. The advisers are not necessarily the payers, and before God everyone remains responsible for his own actions. Do not let us always lead by pleasant revelations of the grace of God used with everything or their opposites which are not better. God is God full of love, but let us never forget that He is Holy and three times Holy! It is in Holiness that he wants the happiness of each one, that he wants to bless everyone, and it is in holiness that he wants to renew us by grace, but we will never participate in this holiness by another way than the Cross.

It is at the Cross that everything was accomplished; it is to the Cross that man also enters into this resurrection of life. It is there that he can discover all the marvels of a renewal in Jesus Christ.

There also that he can live the Glory of God manifested through his own ever more miraculous transformations, because not coming from him, but from God in him.

To God be all Glory! Amen!

This logic is found in God, and not in the natural man. Every man, even the most ancestral possible, has certainly received in him the image of God the Father through his conscience. The latter gives him the knowledge of good and evil, whose the interpretation of which is always left to an impure dimension, of which Satan remains the master, as we shall see in the next chapters.

In a first step, we are only addressing the problem of the Cross, and why God has given this picture under the Old Alliance for the forgiveness of our sins, of the sacrifice of pure animals (see Leviticus 1 to 7 ), then under the New Alliance, from the sacrifice of Jesus to the Cross. The animals declared pure in Leviticus, were it firstly because as animals they do not have knowledge of good and evil, but also for the simple reason that they are better food for the health of the Body, among all the animals that can serve of it. Not only did the consciousness-raising of bad behavior lead to repentance, but also to the sacrifice that went by its nature, to bring the best health possible to the body by the healthy food it produced. This image remains the same under the New Testament because all the Old Testament is the physical demonstration of the spiritual reality contained in the New Testament. Thus we recognize in the New Testament the benefit of the repentance of our old egoistic logic through the sacrifice of Jesus found pure and thus accede to this logic of good spiritual health and abundance of life of the Spirit. That is why, at the time of the sacrifice at the Cross, the veil of the Temple torn itself.

This perfect fulfillment of the Law by Jesus made Him the unblemished lamb that the world of that time, and often ourselves today, did not receive and preferred to put on the cross, where He shed his blood: (Matthew 27-32/56), (Mark 15-21/41), (Luke 23-26/49), (John 19-17/37).

Just as under the Old Covenant, the faith that the blood of pure animals covered the sins of those who offered the sacrifice, under the New Covenant, the faith of forgiveness our sins through the Blood of Jesus purifies us in the case of a true and sincere repentance, which makes us reject carnal actions and reactions.

By the subterfuge we unveiled in the previous chapter, we will no doubt be able to adjust our lives to overcome our sin, but at the risk of repeating ourselves, we will not be liberated. We will certainly be able to give the impression that we have dominated once and for all on the whole of our sin, and probably will try to compel our fellows to do the same. We will impose upon them all our religious rules with severity, at the risk of considering them lost, even as enemies, because we ourselves will have remained in the dimension of the flesh.

Through these bad attitudes very frequent in the Christian world, we can notice that some Pharisees no already longer reacted in this sense in the time of Jesus. They certainly sought to become well in relation to the image they had made of good and evil, but some recognized themselves sinners, even though they had not yet received the baptism of the Holy Spirit: (John 8-3/11) And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.//

Jesus did not come so that we would remain carnally centered on the mistakes of others but rather that we know how to forgive man, not the error itself. The law which hitherto permitted Satan to accuse us of our failings before the Lord, and gave him rights over us, was therefore at the Cross: PERFECTLY FULFILLED. From then, this was true for Jesus Christ Himself, but also for all those who recognize Him as their personal Savior, attached by their faith to His Will with TRUTH and SINCERITY.

The goal pursued by God who loves us was not in Jesus Christ to allow man a longer time, during which he would continue to realize his inability to become good, since some Pharisees had already entered in this attitude. It was about four thousand years ago that God had begun to reveal himself to the man, two thousand whom he had found in Abraham a friend, and more than a thousand and five hundred that he had given the law to Moses. What was the use of this extra time, when those who were among the most fanatical of the time knew already that they were not pure themselves? God therefore no longer had to demonstrate to the man his sin that he became more conscious of it, but rather to provide a means of come out from it to the one who trusted Him.

(John 3-14/21) : And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

There is indeed here the image of the Cross by which God wants to bring all light upon our errors, not so that we might guilt them, but that we may confess them, repent of them in the deep desire not to commit and that he can forgive us every time we reproduce them. A bit like a photo film may have been impressed by a shot, but can be bleached by the light of an overexposure, He wants to put our bad shots to its admirable light so that the "negative" of our life is erased. That's indeed that, the CROSS!

We did not choose Jesus, but it is Him, who chose us. If we accepted to follow Him, then he became our "Guarantor", our "Advocate" with the Father, we could almost say, our "Coach". Who is the champion who takes offense at receiving the advice of a perfect coach, especially since the latter is completely disinterested for himself from the results of his protégé, and acts only for the benefit of the one He inspires?

We cannot take a human example of the dimension of the Cross, since it is not of a human scale, but the work of Jesus is somewhat comparable to that of a world champion performing his feat. At the moment when he is leading the showdown of victory, he also experiences physical and sometimes intense moral suffering, even extreme for man. For Jesus they led him to the acceptance of suffering by the worst of the dead, because of the slow stifling that the crucifixion produces, without rebelling carnally, neither against men, nor against God His Father.

For the sportsman the fight is played in the address, in the strength, what else do I still know? For Jesus, this was the struggle of obedience against disobedience, of good against evil, of love against hatred. Although from divine birth, Jesus was in all respects our fellow man. If it is indeed the origin of his birth, which allowed him to conduct the fight according to the rules in all points, it is also the fact of having taken on our human nature which gave the real value to His work, but also makes us victorious in him. This fight was otherwise not of human dimension; Hence the prohibition of the Lord on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to Adam and Eve, as remind us (Romans 5-19): For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous.//

There is much more to this verse than the simple promise of purification of all our past and future sins, in order to make us enter into eternal rest. On its own this promise is already worth much more than all the gold of the world, since it is the proclamation of salvation for every human being found in Jesus. There is indeed in this verse, the secret to FULFILL the will of God in Jesus Christ. This "means" that God has put at our disposal to access the higher heavenly level, and which he gave the keys to Jesus. God does not actually take pleasure in our eternal repentance to sin, as He was already given in the Old Testament, in (1 Samuel 15-22): And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.//

No ! The Lord does not enjoy this perpetual cycle, disobedience / sacrifice, that is, disobedience / forgiveness, disobedience / forgiveness. If he had given us only this in Jesus Christ, although, at the risk of repeating myself again, salvation is worth more than all the treasures of the earth, it would be very little in relation to what he have really gave. How many Super champions, then become coaches and thus get their "protégés" of performance always repelled? That is what Jesus wants to give us graciously. Does he not tell us in (John 14-12/14): Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.//

Some may be offended by such words being established a parallel between with the Sacrifice of the Cross. This is, however, to that, that brings us back to the Sacrifice of Jesus; For if a sacrifice as such would lead us to mortification, the Cross, for its part, brings us the RESURRECTION! That is why we will have no real resurrections in our lives, unless we accept repentance and forgiveness for our sins at the cross. This resurrection lies in the fact that everything is accomplished and that we have nothing left to do ourselves, if not ACCEPTING to live. To accept even to rejoice and praise God without our sin in our life, but to repent every time we renew it, with the profound desire to no longer commit it. Watch out, I did not say a simple request for forgiveness of the mouth, to have peace with our entourage, but the repentance of the heart, which is made without hypocrisy nor detours.

Perhaps some people will find in these words a revelation. If that's the case, thank you Lord! But I think that others, those who possess a good knowledge of the Christian life, as elders in the matter, will see there for many, only a repetition of more than they have known for a long time. Those for whom the Cross is the reflection of the distant day of their conversion, good for those who do not yet know Jesus, but outdated for them who have all knowledge. Those have already forgotten that conversion is not the story of a day, but is a journey that brings us to the perfect stature of Christ. This path can only be true and perfect if, whenever we discover an error on our part, connected with our carnal construction, we denounce it and repent it, but we gladly accept to be once again washed to the victory of Jesus and not ours. That remains true, whether we have a year, ten years or fifty years of Christian life. If our repentance is complete and our desire is true to no longer commit sin, if we acknowledge that Jesus Himself has accomplished everything, and that we have nothing more to do for us, then our JOY must be TOTAL, even if we have sinned heavily after fifty years of Christian life.

In contrast, I frequently saw myself as pretending me to rejoice, in front of my acceptance of living without my sin. Somewhat like accepting a contrite smile as a proof of goodwill, but in reality, if at that moment I looked deeply into my heart, then there was a reproach, like an accusation against God who demanded me such a sacrifice. If you see yourself one day, act a little bit to this image: Attention Danger! EVERYTHING is accomplished! If in your examination of conscience before God, He shows you that you have entered into false joy in this bad way, which is absolutely not the joy of the novelty of life, is that the Cross is not actually passed over your sin in question and that roots remain, which will emerge one day or another. Refuse then with God's authority in front of the enemy, such an attitude on your part, do not be hypocrites, do not give reason to Satan, for it is he who tempts you, so that your repentance does not bear fruit in you and around you.

Of course, we do not speak of sins which really disgust the majority of us and which everyone has always recognized as sins, murder, robbery... We look on the contrary at those who may appear to us not thereof to be really, or those that we found well justified, quite normal. Those of whom we were saying and perhaps saying again "We are still on earth", or "all these Christians have understood nothing, it is because they are not liberated from the yoke of the law"… Attention to those who speak thus, they do not necessarily speak of the freedom to fulfill the will of God without sin, but more generally that of committing it; Because "God does not see a real disadvantage" ...

These sins that we want to admit if need be... maybe sometimes ... and still ... but God is not really against this kind of things ... and many other attitudes a bit fuzzy ones on which I shall not dwell, because doubtless everyone knows them for himself, without much like to tackle the subject.

I believe that somewhere in our soul we want to pass indeed, as pass us from sin, bypass it, go over it without committing it, but not reject it definitively. For these said sins, we must truly go through the acceptance of joy, the acceptance to live and even rejoice us without the sin itself, without ANY concession. In such situations, more prone to pampering myself or, on the contrary, congratulating me on my courageous position, I sometimes had to order at my soul to praise God for in the name of Jesus, in order to rejoice me and accept praise Him with TRUTH. I then felt the approval and forgiveness of God come to me, only after I had me done this little violence, and only afterwards. Let us never forget that it is the violent who take possession of the kingdom of God, and that our violence must be directed in the right direction.

The "Mystery" of the Cross is really realized in us, only when we accept despite our sins, in spite of our past and present mistakes, in spite of the consequences that they will have in our lives, in spite of the change of attitudes asked by God, to live in the TRUTH of our heart, accepting the forgiveness of our sins without burying them, without adjusting our lives to avoid confronting them, without bypassing them, but by accepting to LIVE and to REJOICE us nevertheless. Somewhat like a "No Satan, you will not pass, I will not leave you my joie de vivre"! But this "no" must be then, determined, and violent.

The first time I experienced this as for me, I can tell you that it would have been more pleasant for me to flog me, to see to die, rather than accept the Joie de Vivre. I know, however, that it was at this moment that I gained, with the help of God, my greatest victory.

The true victory over the enemy of our souls in the name of Jesus Christ, it is then we win it, when we accept to follow Him as we are, but without sin. It is indeed at this moment that we humbly accept to follow His path in a virgin forest, rather than to make another one beside His own.

Will we then reject this saying of (Luke 14-26/27 and 33/35): If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple…/… So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.//

If Jesus says indeed that we must hate what we have most dear to follow Him, it is certainly not in order that we systematically reject all our people as unclean as some might consider, taking this word to the letter. It exists so that we know how to reject even the smallest part of our life, to which we are more attached than to Him. In a word, he wants the first place, in order to give us all the rest in abundance, and without it becoming a trap for us.

He will even ask us for our beautiful appearance of "salt" from the time of our first love to Him. He wants to become the Lord of our life and we accept to be in all humility his "protégés", his disciples.

Often the Lord will ask us to go so far as to return to words that we have sometimes maintained for a long time or on false teachings in which we have sometimes brought many others, in the time of our first love to Him for example, but also of our first mistakes. It is of course at such times that the temptation to follow the spirit of religiosity becomes greater, for the one who finds himself in the situation of recognizing his mistakes, always has two alternatives: Or become TRUER, or become more FALSE!

It is indeed that, to carry his cross. The one who chooses to become truer will also have to accept to pass through the Cross, through the humiliation that may follow, if only to acknowledge his mistake before his own wife. It is sometimes as stupid as that, but as difficult as that. The more public the mistake has been, the more the Lord will ask for public reparations.

Undoubtedly the enemy, knowing that he will lose a large part of us, will come to try to convince us that if we do so, we will lose the confidence of many others, and that it would be enough to live it without saying anything, or still this, or still that ... Yes! It is a difficult thing to recognize oneself in error or having been in it, when we have placed ourselves in the position of a great man.  In the position of the one who takes support on the head of those who drown to arrive to float and to value themselves in the eyes of each one. But that's nevertheless where the victories are won. We must certainly not rely only on our own strength, only on our own dimension,  because God, in his great goodness, will always bear much more than we think, any sinner who wants to repent and come to the cross. We must not forget at this time the humiliation in the obedience of Jesus ascending to Mount Golgotha, ot because of HIS mistakes, but of OUR MISTAKES.

What is wonderful in the work of God is that nothing is seen at random, and for this ascent to our Mount Golgotha he also left us the way in (Mark 15-16-22): And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.//

Yes, it is indeed that, to bear his cross is to accept to pay attention, I have not said to seek it, that God helps us to carry our cross by the means he desires. He will then use who he wants and not always those from whom we can expect the most. If we do not accept this help, then there comes to us a personal glory and an accusation against others and against God, to bear our own cross to the end, to do better than Jesus. It is maybe what we would find in those who go so far as suicide??? Who knows!

Now that we have seen what somehow entails the will of God and the choice of follow Him being a little TRUER, let's look at the temptation to become a little more FALSE. That is to say not to pass through the Cross, the repentance of our sins. Be careful, I did not say in seeking to no longer sin, for no one really seeks to sin, but to the REPENTANCE of our sins.

When we gave our whole life to Christ, we inherited a white robe of fine linen, as we are told in the Revelation, washed by the blood of the lamb. Every time we sin, this dress is stained, but whenever we ask forgiveness before God at the name of Jesus, acknowledging us guilty and imploring for our misconduct the Blood of Jesus, it is renewed in its radiance. There is nothing more usual for all of us Christians, even if God greatly prefers obedience to sacrifice. That is to say, in the New Covenant, forgiveness of our sins, and the purification of our souls through the sacrifice of Jesus to the cross.

A day comes when God looks, however, at the fruits of the Spirit that we carry, as in (Luke 13-6/9): And he spoke this parable: A certain [man] had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit upon it and did not find [any]. And he said to the vinedresser, Behold, [these] three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none: cut it down; why does it also render the ground useless? But he answering says to him, Sir, let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung, and if it shall bear fruit -- but if not, after that thou shall cut it down.//

Any Christian who does not want to accept the questioning to the Cross, and continues to bury this pebble in the form of Camembert rather than denounce his mistakes, is exposed one day or another to this kind of situation. Jesus did not come to let us live in sin, but rather to make us victorious over evil by good, as He knows how to do it since all eternity, and as He came to accomplish it for us on the Cross . He who could have been forgiven his sins to the Cross, but will have buried them as we have just seen, teaching the Cross to others sometimes, but considering it unnecessary for himself, given his great mastery to avoid all sin, will be dressed in a more and dirtier dress, and will live in greater and greater confusion. It is at this moment that he will be able to yield, unfortunately, to the temptation to give false teachings, a little like a sect. He will begin by dyeing his robe of fine linen, for example, in royal blue, and will say: "Look how beautiful this gown is." Some will fall into the trap because of many reasons, but him, he will begin to hate anyone who will not receive ALL that he affirms, without manifesting himself the fruits of the Spirit that should go with his words. We will certainly have time to talk about it again, but it was these people, who were very critical of others, who crucified Jesus. Undoubtedly this person will use the Word of God, to give teachings that many will find powerful, because "new", but a half truth is in reality only a true lie, I let you in effect draw your own conclusion from whom makes his father this person, and from whom can come all the beautiful novelties. In order not to lose face and pass through the humiliation of the Cross, his own, this person will have turned back on his way, to the risk of lose his soul, and that of those who would have followed him.

Jesus is more than clear in this last verse that we have read from Luke 14-35 and that we will take up again, to have a better understanding now that we have spoken of it in Matthew 5-13: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.//

Whoever has acted in this way, perhaps, by certain attitudes, by certain frauds, succeeded in convincing many that he acted with righteousness, but will he deceive God?

The thing is not new and also zealous for justice as we may appear, so much zealous for the Work of God that we may be, this does not mean that our heart is perfectly purified and true. In other words, I will say, it is not because we are demonstrating a great show of vehemence for justice that we are internally as clean as we would like to make it believe and believe it ourselves. I would even say that we often use a very severe attitude and generally all that is most condemnatory toward others and their sin, to better conceal the forfeitures we have committed, see the one we perpetrate again sometimes. Let's look at how King David, who had fallen into sin himself, first tried to conceal it, and then, unable to do so, put to death the husband of the woman with whom he had committed adultery.