They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."
Hebrews 11:36-40
The idea that "they without us should not be made perfect" is a really interesting idea. In seeming contrast, Philippians tells us to "work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12), so is it group salvation, or individual salvation?
Like most other seeming contradictions in the gospel, the answer is both. We have a responsibility to ourselves to do all that we can to lay hold on the promises that Christ offers us, but part of what we are opting into when we choose/accept salvation is the family of God. Maybe "opting into" isn't the best way to say that, though we are making choices. Perhaps recognizing, remembering, and rejoining are better verbs? The family is there, and we're already part of it, but just as we can choose to accept the truth of the gospel and live by it or not, so too can we choose to join with and support our heavenly family or not.
To me, the idea that all of us are a community, and part of each other in a real way is a cool idea. I think we have things that we can learn from each other and that becoming Zion people means that we need to learn to live in a Zion community--which means some serious humility in terms of letting go of contention, learning to love people we don't currently understand or agree with, and not thinking of ourselves as any better than each other. As Neal A. Maxwell said, we are the clinical experience for each other... "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17)... at least ideally, of course. Those silly memes about friends helping you bury bodies might be funny, but they are wrong. :) Our responsibility is, instead, to support each other in working to be good, not evil, and helping someone to do evil isn't being a friend at all.
It's kind of like when you are experiencing a story with an author and suddenly the backstory of the bad guy is revealed and you realize why they've done what they've done, and you wish you could heal their brokenness. Or when someone questions something that you've done and you wish they could see everything that led to that in your life, because then they would understand. All of us are deeper than we seem, and as we learn to love, we see the stories behind the actions and we want to help.
Today, let's try to wrap our heads around the idea of really being family... everyone on earth that has lived or now lives... all relatives, and part of who we are. Let's talk to God about learning to love better, and let's work together towards salvation... which will undoubtedly be more fun if we have other people there to talk to. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment