Hi there,
So we have a bit of a problem: the world thinks the world is the end (or at least part of it), the Church thinks the end is within (either in Heaven or on the way to it). What can we do about these two alternatives? Certainly the world being the end, appears rational, at least at first, but in a greater sense the world makes a prison of the end. Pursuing the world as if it is the end, will surely lead to death - as Solomon said "there is a way that appears right to a man, but the end of it leads to death". Pursuing the world as if it is the end, even appears "right", but the end is death. There is a sense in which it is a struggle to come away from the world, to start to see the end as within - that is, with God. The Church knows this and seeks God within, in the manner in which brings about the end, in principle to the flesh. If the flesh dies at the end, the Spirit lives to it (the end).
But what can we do about the world that seeks us, because it wants to make something of the end? The parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins is telling here: the wise tell the foolish virgins to go and get their own oil - we should be telling the world, to go and get its own end! The outcome is that the wise have enough oil - in this context meaning that the wise find strength within, for the sake of their Lord. The Lord says to the world, "I never knew you"; He does not care what manner of end the world thinks it has found in itself. Rather, the Lord puts distance between Himself and the world, that the world not come to Him, demanding what is for the Faith (and not the world). In this, the world is conquered.
So how long do we need to resolve to find the end within? The answer to that is easy: indefinitely! It is a conversion of the soul, that is important within and setting oneself apart for it, is the greatest calling that we have. At first the transition will be slow, but gradually it will get quicker and quicker, until finally the whole faith is quickened as One. This is in part what Jesus meant when He prayed that we would be One just as He and His Father were One: that our faith in departing the world would be quickened, as it is for One, so being all for All. Thus when we are all quickened, departing from the World, we are all quickened in coming to the Lord within.
So what power is this, that we leave the world, even the power we thought we could find in it? That's the beauty of being quickened as One: there are talents we develop struggling with the world, that we realise once our strength is realised within. Like the oyster that develops the pearl, because of grit, so the believer who struggles to get free of the world, comes to develop a talent that is indicative of resistance to that world being the end that it should not be. In part, this even brings the world a little to an end, for which was not the end of the world, but of all Creation, that is the World in Heaven. I don't mean to confuse you, I merely attempt to show you that the world can be made a lesser world (not greater).
So do we pray for this? That the world become the least of a world, that it can be? That is in the hands of God. It is for Him to reap the world, of its riches and to lavish his children with them. When we add to the talent, which we get by the world, we give God glory, that He and His Children have reaped of the sowing of the world, which His Word has done (sown). This puts the world in its proper place, under God. Thus all that we think or do, comes to be caught up in what God does and how - the end is found within us and we are delivered by the Spirit to live eternally orbiting it, as can never be extinguished. Praise to God!
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
So we have a bit of a problem: the world thinks the world is the end (or at least part of it), the Church thinks the end is within (either in Heaven or on the way to it). What can we do about these two alternatives? Certainly the world being the end, appears rational, at least at first, but in a greater sense the world makes a prison of the end. Pursuing the world as if it is the end, will surely lead to death - as Solomon said "there is a way that appears right to a man, but the end of it leads to death". Pursuing the world as if it is the end, even appears "right", but the end is death. There is a sense in which it is a struggle to come away from the world, to start to see the end as within - that is, with God. The Church knows this and seeks God within, in the manner in which brings about the end, in principle to the flesh. If the flesh dies at the end, the Spirit lives to it (the end).
But what can we do about the world that seeks us, because it wants to make something of the end? The parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins is telling here: the wise tell the foolish virgins to go and get their own oil - we should be telling the world, to go and get its own end! The outcome is that the wise have enough oil - in this context meaning that the wise find strength within, for the sake of their Lord. The Lord says to the world, "I never knew you"; He does not care what manner of end the world thinks it has found in itself. Rather, the Lord puts distance between Himself and the world, that the world not come to Him, demanding what is for the Faith (and not the world). In this, the world is conquered.
So how long do we need to resolve to find the end within? The answer to that is easy: indefinitely! It is a conversion of the soul, that is important within and setting oneself apart for it, is the greatest calling that we have. At first the transition will be slow, but gradually it will get quicker and quicker, until finally the whole faith is quickened as One. This is in part what Jesus meant when He prayed that we would be One just as He and His Father were One: that our faith in departing the world would be quickened, as it is for One, so being all for All. Thus when we are all quickened, departing from the World, we are all quickened in coming to the Lord within.
So what power is this, that we leave the world, even the power we thought we could find in it? That's the beauty of being quickened as One: there are talents we develop struggling with the world, that we realise once our strength is realised within. Like the oyster that develops the pearl, because of grit, so the believer who struggles to get free of the world, comes to develop a talent that is indicative of resistance to that world being the end that it should not be. In part, this even brings the world a little to an end, for which was not the end of the world, but of all Creation, that is the World in Heaven. I don't mean to confuse you, I merely attempt to show you that the world can be made a lesser world (not greater).
So do we pray for this? That the world become the least of a world, that it can be? That is in the hands of God. It is for Him to reap the world, of its riches and to lavish his children with them. When we add to the talent, which we get by the world, we give God glory, that He and His Children have reaped of the sowing of the world, which His Word has done (sown). This puts the world in its proper place, under God. Thus all that we think or do, comes to be caught up in what God does and how - the end is found within us and we are delivered by the Spirit to live eternally orbiting it, as can never be extinguished. Praise to God!
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
