On the Other Side of My Mountain

I am persuaded that, for every saint of God, the time comes when the work of salvation before him becomes different. As he matures, there are things that once tormented him which now are readily dismiss; old habits become cold memories, things over which he once stumbled are now areas about which he counsels and comforts others, the approvals he once craved of friends, family members, and other saints now hold little value to him. This is what occurs when the world begins to lose its grip upon the heart of God’s child; some things, indeed many things, which once held his gaze can now hardly get his attention. No, this is not to say that the saint has become so heavenly minded as to be of no earthly good (that’s another broadcast). However, I assert this is what occurs when Christian maturity finally reveals the true obstacle between a saint and heaven: the man in the mirror. Every saint that has walked away from the trappings of sin in the world achieves a great accomplishment and makes a great discovery. The achievement: having broken the bonds he had with the world so that it no longer drives him. The discovery: that the world was never truly driving in the first place. He climbed the mountain, achieving freedom from earthly bondage. He’s now on the other side, where no one else can see or greatly influence him, hearing from and answering to the One they pierced.