The call

Not just believing in God, but actually trusting Him to know everything there is to know about you because He made you, lifts the burden of unnecessary guilt from your life. You can be who you are, openly, in His presence, thanking Him for creating you by the way in which you conduct your life in the world, day by day. You can listen for His commandments spoken inside you by the voice of your conscience. Your trust in His goodness, grace, and favor deter you from doing or being anything contrary to His will or your nature. You want Him to be as proud of knowing you, as you are of knowing Him.

You know from Whom all blessings flow, and you praise Him, thank Him, glorify Him, and worship Him with all your being, returning to Him with interest that very self which He pours into your hands every day. Knowing that He has freed you to be yourself in His presence, you make others free to be themselves in your presence. Loving Him, welcoming Him, and enthroning Him in your heart, you love, welcome, and, yes, enthrone others in the world. One rule only, the golden rule, guides your thoughts, words, and deeds, freeing you from all other rules and regulations. This is the substance of the call.

This is what separates you from the world, even as you are living in it. This is the protection of Christians unshamable, that which cannot be taken from you, because you are always giving it, and freely. This is the turning of the other cheek, the going of the extra mile, the seven and seventy times forgiving. This is the keeping awake, the patient endurance, the offering of no resistance, the giving to all who ask. This is the being perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is the gift more fragrant than frankincense, more soothing than myrrh, more valuable than gold, that only a wise king can offer the newborn Lord.

God is more merciful to you than ever man is. His laws are ten words, and His commandments are one. He knows everything about you, quicker to hear your confession than you are to speak it, forgiving you before you open your mouth to ask His pardon, for those things you think, say, and do which offend the truth of your being. He knows what sin is, and what is error, and He expunges both from your soul, and raises you always higher. Walking with Him, He tells you the meaning of everything that pertains to Him, in yourself, in the world, and in the life of the age to come. Take courage, then, and take what He gives.

He has called you. He will not abandon you. He cannot deny His very self. He is, was, and will be, yours, now and always, and to the ages of ages.