Damocle's Sword

 

 

[1]

 

Revelation 22:10-12 (King James Version)

 ¹⁰And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

 ¹¹He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

 ¹²And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

 

It started early in life. We were discussing the closing of probation in a class in my parochial primary school. I had already discovered the inevitability of sin in my life. Time and time again I had had to seek forgiveness for something I had done. I began to understand how basically evil I was, even though I was not yet ten years old. This doctrine that God would draw a line across time after which the solemn declaration would be pronounced, petrified me:

The threat of this proclamation hung over my head like Damocles’ sword. It struck fear into my young breast that haunted me. My teacher explained that if there was a sin in my life that was unforgiven, it could no longer be forgiven. The fires of hell were awaiting me.

Timidly I raised my hand and asked a question that haunted me. Since, my entire life had been a sequence of sins for which I had to ask forgiveness, not only of God but also some mortal soul I had wronged. “What if I’m on my way to ask forgiveness and the close of probation is declared? Will it be too late?”

My teacher, who loved us kids, realized the distress I found myself in. But I’m not sure that she had encountered that question. Her answer left a lot of uncertainty in my mind: “I’m sure that if God sees you’re actually going to confess a sin that He will understand.” But her answer lacked conviction.

To her the guardian angels God had assigned to each one of us carried a black book and continually wrote down every evil thought or action we might have. That picture of my guardian angel had been burned into my young mind, too. The angel might indeed be guarding me from harm, although he never stopped me from getting hurt, possibly because he was too busy writing down the continuous notes about my sins.

My life span had to double before I would begin to put Christ’s yielding His life for me together with His love for purity. Christ loved me and that is why His grace took care of my evil nature. Probation might indeed close, but God’s love and grace would never end.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your infinite and eternal love. Help me to show others this great love.

 

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[1] https://media.bizj.us/view/img/9823622/howtodamocles*1200xx2184-1230-0-103.jpg

Bullying

[i]

Ephesians 5:8 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Ian[ii] was a big fellow. To my 5^th grade eyes he looked like a giant. For some reason that I no longer remember, he got mad at me and threatened to kill me. Kids do that, of course. They say things that they don’t mean literally. But I took him at his word, and I was scared. Through the last few hours of class, all I could think of was his threat. I learned nothing about what Miss Ranierⁱ was trying to teach me. My future seemed grim. He was much bigger and probably much stronger than I. What could I do?

As kids we had toyed around with wrestling and fighting—none of it serious. We had come upon a grip we called the Indian Choke Lock that we found impossible to break that made our opponent unable to breathe. I decided to put the choke lock on Ian at my first opportunity.

When class ended that afternoon I dashed out of the classroom first. I jumped up on a ledge a mere foot above the bottom stair and waited. As the kids came running down the steps and out on to the field, Ian came running by me. It should have been obvious to me that he had totally forgotten his threat that had haunted me the whole afternoon. But all I could see was what I considered to be my only chance to save my life—to kill him before he could kill me.

Launching myself into the air, I landed on his back and threw him into my Indian Choke Lock. I was surprised how well it worked. He struggled vainly but couldn’t dislodge me; nor could he breathe. He collapsed onto the ground, but I held on grimly. Eventually some bigger kids saw what I was doing and came over and broke my lock on his throat. He gasped for air and walked away very subdued. I stood up quickly watching for any retaliation. None materialized.

Years went by. I quickly learned that physical retaliation wasn’t the way to go. Usually one could negotiate his way out of a big threat, especially with some serous praying about it.

Lord, thank You for the light—the promise that You are with me and will protect me and that to love others is a much better way.

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[i] https://www.flickr.com/photos/calshakes/6189618611

[ii] Not his or her real name