Concerning Salvation

Is The Young Man Absalom Safe?

Christians are concerned with matters temporal and spiritual. Christians seek salvation. Christian thought leads the believers on the path to goodness and holiness. If love is the basic commandment of Christianity, how is that love expressed? Is it just for those who are familiar and in close proximity or for everyone universal? That Jesus Christ by example is to be accepted as the superior teacher of how to love gently, spiritually without anticipation, without expectation—simply accepting the strengths and weaknesses of each individual, treating each individual fairly, and understanding and affirming that this choice might be difficult and contain both sacrifice and suffering. Christ presented the best example of virtuous love. It must be remembered that the essence of Christianity involves suffering and sacrifice; there is a rejection of all pleasures, a rejection of wealth, a rejection of desires of the flesh, a rejection of all vanity. The sympathy and interest of the Christian should be the welfare and security of their neighbors. All activities of each Christian’s life should encourage others to convert and become believers and followers of the Lord. The essence of each Christian’s life should involve being virtuous and being a humble servant of God. Virtuous thought is not selfish. Virtuous thought is not vengeful. Virtuous thought is not malicious. Goodness and holiness are intimately connected; how a man acts, how a woman speaks presents external signs of the love and respect for God within their souls. There should be something invisible to the eye, inaudible to the ear which exists purely and entirely in the soul which can lead men to all types of hope and goodness, allow the expansion of wisdom. With wisdom follows a deeper love and connection to God. As the bonds to God grow stronger so does the compassion and concern for all of God’s children. And this love and awe of God suggests that it is better to love universal, love without anticipation, love without expectation, love with mercy, love with forgiveness. This type of love asks for a understanding and acceptance of God’s mysticism; this is the love of the invisible, the inaudible; this is the love for all souls and for their salvation.

It is easy for each person to say “I love you. I love all of my neighbors.” However, it is more difficult to apply the gentleness, the hopefulness of love uniformly through the entirety of their existence. Spiritual concerns will always return to social justice, fairness, love, and hope.

Christ reminds us to offer both our faith and love to God; to be humble, obedient servants; to respect and trust God.

The life of a Christian extends beyond an individual quest for goodness and holiness; Christians by example should live in a humble, prayerful manner which draws other to the faith; Christians are not just concerned with their salvation; Christians desire the spiritual conversion and salvation for all of mankind. Hopefully how Christians live will reflect this!

And the Christian has Prayer and Contemplation.