Tuesday, May 9, 2017
All the great Wisdom traditions
of the world basically speak the same truths about life, and this is because
they all come from the One Source of all Truth; that is, from God Himself. And
those who study these “Perennial Truths” share a profound respect for all the
other traditions. Sufi mentor Murat Yagan put it his way: “The fountain from
which I drank was here, and there are many other fountains if you are thirsty.”
However, there is one
unescapable and unavoidable reality which separates us Christians from all the
other traditions: the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead.
You see, of all the great wisdom
teachers throughout history, there is only One who claimed to be God, and then
went on to prove it by rising from the dead. And herein lies the fundamental
reality of our Christian faith. Without the Resurrection, our faith is useless,
as St. Paul so eloquently states in 1 Corinthians 15:
If Christ has
not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then
those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life
only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. (I Co
15:17-19)
Not everyone can hear or accept
this, but only those whom the Father has given to Christ, as it says in today’s
Gospel passage (John 10:22-30). “. . . you do not believe, because you are not
among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
“My Father who has given them to
me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The
Father and I are one.”
We can take great consolation
and hope in hearing that “no one can take them out of my hand.” We, who have
heard His voice, and have followed, have been given to Christ by the Father,
and we are eternally His. No one can take us away from Him, no matter how bleak
things may seem at times, and no matter how miserably we may fail because of
our human weakness.
God bless you!
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