e-mails from heaven

Dear Struggler,

I know that your struggle isn’t over yet, but I can see your ailing spiritual body beginning to regain its strength. Remember, every journey is accomplished one step at a time, one mile at a time – you never arrive at your destination without making the journey. Traveling is a necessary part of arriving. And to tell you the truth, you will be travelling for the rest of your life. It’s important to know that because I don’t want you to become discouraged just because you haven’t made it here yet.

Don’t worry; I’ve placed plenty of rest stops along the way. Just stay on the path that other saints have beaten down for you. Follow them as they follow me. You’ll get here if you trust me on this.

Now about that death image that I used to paint that nauseating picture of what sin will do to you: it’s for real. But tonight I want to give you another equally disturbing picture. Believe me – it’s not my intention that you suffer grief or the excruciating pain of temptation – that comes from the rebellious one. Don’t forget what I told you – he is a prowling carnivore looking for the first opportunity to rip the living flesh from your body and eat you morsel by morsel.

Another metaphor I chose to represent man’s condition when he chooses not to serve me is prison. In the twenty-first century and in your culture, prison is bad enough. But when I chose that word, prison was far a more appalling place to be locked up in. Typically, prisoners were confined to dark, dank dungeons. They were chained to the walls. Sanitation was non-existent at best. What sparse crumbs of food prisoners were fed were rank with rot and vermin. Prisoners were beaten and ravaged as they suffered unspeakable horrors.

In my day, prisons were places from which few people emerged alive. If they did manage to get out, their health was so adversely affected that they never were the same again. Prison is horrible. It is unbearable. It denotes powerlessness and hopelessness. It is the same routine every day – a routine dictated to you by someone else whose only interest is in controlling your every waking moment. There is no freedom in prison.

In order for my readers and hearers to understand the devastation of sin, I coupled death and prison with the image of darkness. Since the advent of the electric light, darkness does not carry with it the same connotation that it did two thousand years ago. You have street lights, and hundred watt bulbs in every room. Everywhere you look, the darkness is pierced by light so that most of modern man is unable to even see the stars.

But imagine a world where there is no light. Only darkness prevails. You hear a noise in this overwhelming darkness and you long to illuminate your surroundings so that you can see what it was that made the eerie sounds. But you cannot. Fear – unspeakable fear grips first your heart and it begins to beat more rapidly. But the sound persists and you think it is more menacing with every moment. Then fear gives way to panic. Something instinctive takes over and you lose interest in everything else. Survival is your only thought now. “I must survive!”

Unfortunately, death, imprisonment, and darkness are the devil’s plan for your life. It is a purpose driven life, but it is not a life dedicated to a purpose that will glorify God or bring peace to your souls. It goes nowhere even though in the beginning it holds such promise.

Here’s what I want you to take from this e-mail: I will raise you from the dead. I will free you from prison. I will illuminate your life and give you a purpose for living that will bring you unspeakable joy for all eternity. I redeemed you so that you could glorify my Father in heaven. And that is what you were created for.

Enough of the negative stuff. But I do want you to know that once you internalize the ugliness of sin, you are ready for my story of love and redemption. I’ll tell it to you again soon. You will like hearing it once more.