What sort of anxiety is created when
we fall prey to finely crafted deception
and we discover how our own internal
struggle against temptation has drawn
us away from our relationship with the
LORD?
Does this anxiety stem from a fear of
loss as though we could actually
control the process of being deceived?
Is this anxiety supported by Scripture
that we are to somehow ‘hate our flesh’
but live by faith manifesting divine
love that can not sin. How do we adequately
measure, in terms of its emotional affect
within our souls, the Scriptural descriptions
of ‘if thy hand offend thee, cut it off’
when the Scriptures also say, ‘no man
hates his own flesh.’ [Eph 5:29]
What sort of anxiety is mutually shared
when we profess to keep the Scriptures
in our hearts faithfully but then read:
Luke 14:26 NASB — “If anyone comes to Me,
and does not hate his own father and mother
and wife and children and brothers and
sisters, yes, and even his own life, he
cannot be My disciple.”
These struggles are evident in the midst
of our communities as well as in the Holy
Writ.
Is self-loathing a Holy Sacrament that
over-rides all of our relationships just
so we can demonstrate our progress to
outsiders?
I have struggled and currently wrestle with
temptations, with the illusion of control
and the love-hate issues that entwine
themselves in my relationships.
It’s complicated, to say the least. I need
my orientation to be founded in the
salvation of His Love for without Him,
I remain lost.
