others to widen home plate. Where is that getting us?”
“If I am lucky,” he concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old
coach today. It is this: If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard of what
we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same
standard; if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do
not meet the standard; and if our schools and churches and our government
fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve; there is but one thing
to look forward to” – turning that white home plate around to reveal a black
side – “dark days ahead.”
His message about holding ourselves to a 17-inch standard also applies to
the doctrines that guide our lives. The Ten Commandments are the primary
example of the “17-inch” rule. There is no wiggle room. We cannot just “widen”
any one of them to suit our own desires without weakening the standard and
the expectation.
And so it is with all of the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrine. Much as
we may be tempted at times to bend them to fit what we might want them to
say, they say what they mean. Always. They can be accommodated to different
levels of understanding but never compromised. And they are always backed
up with the Lord’s love and mercy. Whenever we “widen the plate,” we not only
weaken the doctrine. We weaken ourselves.
(BMH)
‘as in heaven so upon the earth’
Heaven is beautiful and peaceful. The angels live together in harmony and
happiness. So we pray, as the Lord has taught us: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done, as in heaven so upon the earth.”
Only the Lord can transform the world so completely, but He does it
through us. Changing the world means changing the people who inhabit it.
The Lord is not like a dictator who would impose a new order upon the world
by force from without. His kingdom comes from within. It is a kingdom of
love; and love must be embraced freely.
“Thy kingdom come” is joined with “Thy will be done.” But we cannot do
His will until the things in our own will that stand in the way are removed. We
cannot worship God and mammon at the same time. So we also pray that the
Lord will “deliver us fro m evil.” It is something only He can do, if we let Him.
Heaven can come down to earth. This is the promise of the New Jerusalem.
It will happen only gradually, though, as one by one, people are regenerated.
Heaven on earth is not achieved by means of a tower of Babel built by worldly
ambition, but by opening our hearts and minds to the Lord through prayer,
repentance, reformation and regeneration. A Church constituted of people
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