I’m just going to put it like this & if I have more time after my homework this weekend I will see if I missed anything.
We are made in God’s image, which means we have the capacity (if not interrupted) to cultivate our character/being (thinking) by choosing (doing) toward ends which treat the other as self, and vice versa (end).
This involves both avoiding harming the other/self, and seeking their/our growth. No growth without pain. That’s what is good about a forest fire promoting seed growth… an analogy Jesus uses.
The capacity is like the seed, blueprint, or program, but it requires the will to initiate/run (cultivate/build) it. We never will until we see the need…that restlessness.
Jesus’ vine/branch analogy is good, because it’s like a fractal. The branches are patterned after the vine and cannot grow apart from it. The vine is very much alive. We will never be the source of the vine, but we can choose to be grafted in or out. Since the vine is spiritual life, choosing to be grafted out (love cannot be forced) causes a kind of death. We can’t graft ourselves in because love isn’t earned—that’s what the cross demonstrated, and it’s why we extend the same mercy to others/self. The more we choose to be a branch of that vine, the more we resemble it, and it grows.
The less we choose vine-likeness, the more we wither. & it eventually shows, and we may never rid ourselves of its effects. But his love never changes.
The more we know this, the more we are capable of choosing otherwise (greater heights allow greater falls), the more we will be expected not to, and to choose the vine. But we will never be God. No matter how great a height we fall from, his love remains unmoved. He disciplines those he loves. His word will not return to him void. He will deal with the wolf shepherds who harm sheep—love does not leave you wallowing in mud.
Think of all the vices of the people throughout biblical history. They all had to come through the fire to get back to the original image. When we first became conscious (any being who can choose the Golden Rule) is when we became made in his image.
I like the Augustine quote, “Our heart is restless until it rests in You.” To rest is to be grafted in to the vine by his love. Rooted. Home.
Thanks for the reminder.
I wish I could (pray he would) burn away vestigial neural connections, but we all have our thorns.