“Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”
John Wesley
Do you have a heart to help God’s children? To help them feel His love in greater ways? Be passionate and on fire with the Holy Ghost, with God’s love, in praise to God and His Son! As you are, people will be drawn to you. As people come, help them see God’s love for them and for all of His children. Seek to love as Christ loves.
Face Blind to God
The world is completely “face blind” when it comes to seeing the true face of God. Face blindness is a real neurological condition which makes people unable to recognize faces. Someone with damage to this part of his or her brain won’t recognize a spouse or a child or a friend. They will need rules for recognizing people — like knowing that a daughter has blonde hair and a birthmark on her neck.
When we’re “face blind” about God and His character, we make up rules about who He is which are inaccurate. We may see Him as waiting to zap us if we make a mistake. We may see Him as cruel to some and kind to others. The world, at large, does not see God as loving. They either see God as vengeful or nonexistent. They contort God’s love to their version of love, which is largely conditional, transactional, limited, and judgmental.
Seeing God’s Love Clearly
God’s love is everlasting, unlimited, and unconditional. He is a Father who cares for His children and wants the best for us. He weeps for us when our choices lead us into pain, despair, and limited thinking. His commandments are given that we may have maximum happiness and joy. God isn’t waiting to zap you should you violate His commands. God is saddened by the consequences that natural follow violation of commandments. Like a loving parent who is sad when their child ignores warnings and touches a hot stove.
How gentle God’s commands!
How Gentle God’s Commands, Philip Doddridge, 1702–1751
How kind his precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord
And trust his constant care.
We are free to act. God will not intervene unless and until we ask Him to. He isn’t going to usurp your power to choose. He respects your volition.
We are here to learn joy and that is a process. We are here to learn love. That too, takes time. God’s love is what we’re here to experience — to truly see the face of God’s love instead of being face blind and creating inaccurate rules that distort our perception of who He is and what He’s about.
Call upon God. The moment you do, He will help you onto a more joyful and happy path. To find this better path, all we need to do is come unto Christ and trust God enough to ask for help, and then act upon His instructions. See the Father’s hand around you, ready to lift and bless you as you come unto Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Remember, the rules the world uses to recognize God are distorted and abominable. They do not see God. They see only a reflection of themselves and their human traditions that have distorted His face. God sent His Son into the world to show us God’s face.
“Learn of me and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.”
Doctrine and Covenants 19:23
John Wesley was correct when he said,
“By salvation, I mean not barely according to the vulgar notion deliverance from hell or going to heaven but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, its original purity, a recovery of the divine nature, the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy and truth.”
John Wesley
God loves us and wishes to lead us along so we can experience the joy of mortality and the joy of mercy even amidst suffering. His rest isn’t just something that happens in heaven. It can happen here and now! There is happiness to be found in God’s Kingdom. When His Kingdom is within you and shining out through your eyes, your heart, thoughts, and actions, you’ll be “on fire” with God’s Spirit. Many will come to “watch you burn” with the Spirit of God and warm themselves by the fire of God’s love which flows through you.
This is God’s will for us – that we may help gather His children to Him. He desires that we help draw our brothers and sisters to His Son Jesus Christ so that all may receive peace, love, joy and renewal. As we do, we help prepare the Earth for the Second Coming of Christ. So, do what it takes to discover God’s love for yourself, and let His Spirit enter your heart and set you on fire with a passion for Christ and God’s love for you and all those around you!
“Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.”
from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
