Saturday, April 5, 2014

A Humble Little Candle


The people aforetime joined partners with God, though they professed belief in His unity; and although they were the most ignorant amongst men, they considered themselves the most accomplished. But, as a token of divine retribution upon those heedless ones, their erroneous beliefs and pursuits have, in this Day of Judgement, been made clear and evident to every man of discernment and understanding.

                (Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 124, from ISHRAQAT (Splendours))

 

Once we know everything we become very stupid. A person who knows it all has no need to acquire new knowledge. Being thus cut off from knowledge we soon become very stupid. There is, however, a bit of bliss, because we are completely unaware of our ignorance and sincerely believe we have all the answers.

It is easy to point fingers and recognize such traits in others but very difficult to see such faults in ourselves. “Those you think they know it all are a great irritant to those of us who do,” is often said in jest, but we must beware if we think it is true. It seems that God loves the humble seeker.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

  (Matthew 18:4)

Once we become too sure of ourselves we soon fall. We must turn to God as a child turns to a parent. God, like a loving parent, allows us to help. There is nothing He can’t do, so He can do quite well without us, but He wants us to learn and be nurtured by our experiences, so He give us the duty to teach His Cause. He watches lovingly as we struggle to get it right. He wants to see his children cooperate and work together so he gives each of us a piece of the puzzle and together we can put it all together. If one refuses to help, our puzzle will have a missing piece.

We come together at feasts and holy days, at devotionals and study circles, at firesides and social gathering, and we rejoice in each other’s presence. How difficult it would be to keep true lovers apart, and since we are a community of lovers we cannot wait until our next chance to get together. We find ourselves sending emails, calling on the phone and dropping in for visits. The children and youth love to talk to the adults and seniors and the older members are amazed at the talents and dedication of our younger members.

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.(John 13:34,35)

Every Christian and all men will be forced to see us as disciples of the returned Christ when they recognize this type of love amongst us. Christ loved without limit and not even death could stop His love, so when we love beyond the point where we are willing to sacrifice our lives for each other, all men will recognize that we are the disciples of God’s Holy Messenger. This was prophesied by Christ 2,000 years ago. We have the loving example in Iran today were our friends are sacrificing their belongings, their freedom and even their lives for love of us. Let us be bold in our efforts, yet humble in our approach, as we tell the world of this great love that will conquer the whole planet. Love is light while evil is darkness. When we shine brightly darkness has no hold over us. As candles, we will sacrifice our very existence to give our light.

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