Lord, You Are Right

Lord, you are right. And I am wrong. I may be guilty of a multitude of sins. Yet this sin I will not commit. I shall bow to your knowledge and understanding. You are right. And I am wrong.

You demand my perfection. I excuse my imperfection. I am content with imperfection. I seek its deceptive comfort. I let the rotten fruit lie beside the healthy. I let the lone pest stay in a cleanly swept house. Days pass and the healthy fruit reveals an inward rot. And the clean house emits a sickening stench. Can I pretend to be surprised?

I love the correct, at least I so opine. Yet I am drawn to the incorrect. I bed with the wrong. I am desperate to learn. Yet I am quick to fall into error. I love to construct. Yet I do not hesitate to destroy.

Cursed am I. To know and to not act, to receive and to not produce, to be blessed and to not bless – this is a curse.

Yet I walk despite the curse. I speak despite the curse. I hope despite the curse. I sin a multitude of sins. Yet this sin I will not sin. My Lord is right. And I am wrong.

- Samuel Godfrey George

Shall I glorify my Lord?

How shall I glorify my Lord? I shall glorify Him by what I say. I shall also glorify Him by what I choose not to say. I shall glorify Him by what I do. I shall also glorify Him by what I choose not to do. I shall glorify Him by what I think. I shall also glorify Him by what I choose not to think.

Every moment is an opportunity to glorify God. Every moment requires a decision. Should I listen to the inner voice or my own voice? Should I walk in the narrow path or the broad path? Should I pronounce the effortless curse or the impossible blessing? Should I spurn in hatred or embrace in love? Should I give up my desire or give in to the temptation? Should I focus on my weakness or His strength? Should I lament my lot or rejoice in His promise? Should I flee from or run toward the cross? Should I glorify Him or gratify myself? Every moment is decision time. Every moment I decide one way or the other.

- Samuel Godfrey George

Can I do this if it feels right?

Can I do this if it feels right? Is this pleasure not harmless as it involves only me? No one will be affected by my thoughts. Only I will be involved in this process and only I will be transformed by it.

Can I not use my body anyway I want? Is this not my body? Are these not my organs? Have I not been given this organ so that I may use it for my pleasure? Is this not an organ of pleasure?

Who is He that claims my body as His own? Who is He that decrees that my organs be consecrated to Him? What does He want with me? Why does He come to live within me?

Who is He Who will lord over me? What do I gain by surrendering to His will? What do I lose by rejecting Him? Why does He demand the thing that is most difficult to give? Why does He take away that which pleases the most?

Why does He want the sacrifice? Why does He demand the body? Why does He command the parts to be sacred? Why does He commend the pain and denounce the pleasure?

What is the purpose of this mastery? What is the point of this conflict? Will happiness result from tears? Will joy ensue from pain? Will life emerge from death?

This is the promise. If I die for the One who demands my life, I will live. If I give up my temporary joy in which I can find no fulfilment, I shall receive a permanent joy in which I shall be fulfilled forever.

Shall I believe in this promise? Shall I give up what I can see and feel for what I cannot? Shall I make the Lord my Lord? Shall I submit in faith or withdraw by instinct? Shall I live now and die later? Or shall I die now and live forever?

- Samuel Godfrey George

SGG explains his work, "Give Me Black"

To desire Light one should walk in darkness. To desire health one should endure sickness. To attain the pure, one should taste the impure. One should ask for black so that one may appreciate white. One should lust for that which is not sacred so that one may long for that which is sacred.

This is the path. From darkness one walks into Light. Through suffering one discovers the joy that cannot fade away. It is the knowledge of filth that paves the way for the knowledge of the pure.

There is no other path. One should not walk away from trouble. One should not avoid the test. That temptation should be resisted is the ultimate requirement. Nevertheless to resist temptation one requires strength. That strength comes from the fall and the knowledge that comes thereof. He who rises after a fall is mighty indeed.

No one born of man can avoid the fall. A man is already fallen even before he is born. From the moment of birth to that of death, a man aspires to rise and reverse the effect of the fall. Whether he succeeds in this is not as significant as his attempt to recover. This is the exercise of faith - to persevere in difficult circumstances and to hope when it seems hopeless.

If one ends one's life as a victor over sin, one will have received the just wages for a lifetime of spiritual struggle. That reward is surely from God, as no one else can give it.

Here then is the irony. The promise of comfort lies in the struggle, the coming of hope is suggested in the despair and the burgeoning of faith occurs in the dark waters of doubt.

- Samuel Godfrey George