For them do I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified (Jn. 17:19)
Jesus, knowing that He would pour out His own Spirit in us, kept Himself from all uncleanness, and he cried out to the Father who could save Him from (spiritual)death. He accepted the death of His body so that we could pass from death to life by the gift of His Spirit in us.
If we thought that we we could pass on to those we love the spirit / passion/ fire that animates us in this life, we too would keep ourselves from sin and cry out to God to keep us from death. How often do we desire to give to others the knowledge, understanding, wisdom, truth, fire that burns within us, the Spirit that comforts us, that teaches us, that shows us the way to go----but they cannot receive what animates us. Jesus said to the disciples, "How slow you are to understand!" But then, after His resurrection, no longer impeded by the slowness of the flesh, "their hearts were burning within them as they talked with Him."
When we are no longer in the flesh, maybe we too will be able to communicate spirit to spirit with those we love and to pour out in them the fire that animates our lives.
I like to believe that every good seed that we sow in this life is already in those we love, even if in a dormant state. We can't despair of it sprouting just because we can't see the growth.
ReplyDeleteThe darker and dryer the area where a seed falls, the longer it takes to form roots. Sometimes, the longer a seed stays in the darkness the stronger the plant when it finally blooms. Sadly, for us, we sometimes don't live long enough to see the trees we've planted, but that doesn't mean the seed has died just because it's dormant.
Some seeds need light much stronger than what is available in this life.When they finally bloom, their fruits that fall to earth are like manna from heaven. We're not finished growing just because we're dead.
There's a book called If Grace is True that helped me to clarify my thinking on this.