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Bearing the Cross: A Part of Self-Denial | John Calvin · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome. You're with us for Reformed
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Thinking, the part of the deep dive where we dig into some
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significant ideas, looking at them through that rich
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theological lens that highlights God's sovereignty and, well, our
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walk with Him. Glad to be diving in.
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Today we're tackling a really central concept, Christian
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suffering. You often hear it called bearing
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the cross. A weighty topic it.
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Is and we're pulling our insights straight from John
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Calvin's major work, Institutes of the Christian Religion,
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specifically that section he titled Bearing the Cross a Part
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of Self Denial. A foundational text for this,
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certainly. So our aim today really is to
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get a clearer handle on why affliction seems to be, well,
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part of the believer's life. According to this view, it's not
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just random. Though not according to Calvin.
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We want to look at how it's supposed to shape us, what kind
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of virtues it might cultivate, and also how this Christian way
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of looking at it is different from, say, other philosophies
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about dealing with pain. Right.
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And this discussion coming from Calvin, it really shines a light
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on a core theological idea, but one with very practical, down to
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earth implications for anyone trying to live out their faith.
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Practical how? Well, it gives a framework that
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actually finds a specific purpose and hardship.
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It can really reorient how you understand trials and hopefully
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lead you closer to God's design for your life.
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OK. Let's get into that because, you
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know, for a lot of people, suffering just feels like a
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horrible interruption. Yeah, a detour.
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Bad luck? Exactly.
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A detour from the good life, maybe just random misfortune.
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But what Calvin presents here, it seems like a totally
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different picture for Christians.
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It is radically different. So how does he frame it?
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How does he argue that suffering isn't some accident, but
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actually a plan, maybe even a necessary part of the Christian
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walk? What's really striking is how
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Calvin, based on Scripture, shows that affliction for
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believers isn't haphazard at all.
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It's, it seems, woven into a very deliberate divine strategy.
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Yes. And if you look at the big
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picture, the blueprint, it starts with Christ himself.
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He's the archetype, the perfect pattern for everyone who belongs
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to God. OK.
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Christ as the pattern. Unpack that a bit.
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Calvin calls him the head and archetype.
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He makes it really clear that Christ as God's first born son,
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he went through what Calvin calls a perpetual cross his
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whole time on earth. Perpetual cross his whole life.
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His entire life from, you know, his humble birth all the way to
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his agonizing death on the actual cross, Calvin says.
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It was nothing but a sort of perpetual cross.
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So not just the crucifixion itself.
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No, the whole experience. And this wasn't like a mistake
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in God's plan or just some unfortunate hardship he had to
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endure. Calvin argues it was a
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deliberate submission to the Father's will.
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It showed ultimate obedience. You remember the the book of
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Hebrews says Christ learned obedience through what he
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suffered. Right, Hebrews 5.8.
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Yeah, now that doesn't mean he was ever disobedient, but rather
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his obedience was, let's say, perfected, fully revealed
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through his active, constant submission to every trial, every
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burden. So he lived it out.
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He lived it out. He submitted to this condition,
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this life of constant trial specifically for us, Calvin
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stresses, to give us an example of patient endurance.
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OK, so he's not just rescuing us from suffering eventually, but
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showing us how to go through it now.
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Precisely a living model of how to face difficulty with your
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heart set on God's will. And how does that connect to us
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then if he's the model, well. That leads straight into the
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idea of conforming to Him, being shaped like him.
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God, in his sovereign plan, has destined all his children, all
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believers, to be conformed to Christ.
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That's Romans 8.29. Conform to Christ, so sharing in
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his sufferings is part of that. It becomes a tangible sign, yes,
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a confirmation of our fellowship, our connection with
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him. It's not just bad luck that
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happens to us, it's actually a mark that we truly belong to
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him. So it has meaning.
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It does. Calvin uses this image says
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Christ passed from a labyrinth of all evils, like a maze of
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every hardship you can imagine, into heavenly glory.
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And in the same way, we too are destined to be LED through
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various tribulations to the same glory that echoes Acts 14.22.
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Through tribulations to glory, yes.
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And this shared experience, this communion and hardship with
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Christ, it fundamentally changes how we should see our own
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sufferings. It makes them blessed,
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purposeful. It actually promotes our
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salvation. How does it promote salvation?
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By participating in his sufferings, we get a deeper
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grasp of the ability of his resurrection.
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We understand more fully the strength, the victory, the life
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that comes from his triumph over sin and death.
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I see experiencing weakness helps us grasp his strength.
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In a way, yes. And Calvin says there's real
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comfort in knowing this. The more we face affliction, the
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more certainly our fellowship with Christ is confirmed.
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It's not just a burden. It's like a living stamp,
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authenticating our spiritual identity and where we're headed.
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That is, that's a very different way to look at hardship.
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It moves it from just, you know, random bad stuff or tests
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without a point, to seeing it as a precise process, a way God
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shapes us spiritually, A deliberate design to align us
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more closely with Christ's own life.
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Exactly. So thinking personally then, if
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you really take that on board that suffering is part of a
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divine design for conformity to Christ, how might that change
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your perspective When you hit difficulties?
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Does it make you look for purpose in the pain instead of
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just wanting it gone? It really should.
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It reframes the question from why me to what is God doing in
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me through this? OK.
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So if suffering is part of this divine plan for conformity,
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what's one of its main personal goals for us?
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It sounds like Calvin thinks God is targeting something specific
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in human nature. Yes, a central aim is definitely
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confronting and dealing with our built in human tendency towards
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self-reliance. Self-reliance.
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And that makes you ask, well, why are we so prone to rely on
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ourselves? And how does God in his wisdom
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deal with that deep seated tendency?
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Good question. What does Calvin say He.
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Explains that by our very nature we are, in his words, too
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inclined to attribute everything to our flesh.
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Our flesh meaning. Not just the physical body, but
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our natural, unredeemed human will, our desires, our fallen
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thinking, our tendency to find security and satisfaction in
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ourselves or in the world rather than in God.
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Got it. And this leaning leads us to
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frankly overestimate our own goodness, our self-control, our
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ability to stand firm. We often think deep down that
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whatever comes up, our own strengths, our ingenuity, our
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resources, there enough, we don't really need God's
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sustaining grace moment by moment.
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We think we can handle it. We do, and this breeze what
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Calvin calls a stupid and empty confidence in the flesh.
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It fosters an arrogant pride against God himself.
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We act as if our own skills are sufficient, and that minimizes
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our actual dependence on our Creator.
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That sounds uncomfortably familiar.
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Doesn't it? So God, in his wisdom, the best
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way he curbs this deep rooted arrogance is by proving our
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great incapacity, our inherent frailty, through actual
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experience. Through hardship.
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Through hardship, he allows and uses affliction in different
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shapes. Maybe it's disgrace, or poverty,
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or bereavement or disease or other calamities.
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Calvin lists the hard stuff of life.
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The hard stuff. And when these unwelcome things
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arrive, we pretty quickly find ourselves utterly unequal to
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bearing these on our own steam. We just we succumb to our
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limits. Exposes our weakness.
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Starkly, it exposes the limits of our own strength.
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It's a humbling process, no doubt about it.
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Calvin even points to King David.
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David. Yeah, someone known for his
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devotion to God. But even David got complacent
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when things were going well, he started relying on himself, not
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God. Remember Psalm 30?
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In my tranquility I said, I shall never be moved.
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He felt secure in himself. Right until God hit his face.
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Exactly. Then David was dismayed.
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So even someone like David needed experiences like that to
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reveal his true dependence. Adversity becomes this powerful
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tool to push us toward genuine humility.
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It cleanses us of that blind love of self, as Calvin calls
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it, and it overturns those false ideas we have about our own
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abilities. So in good times, we might think
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we're strong, but hardship reveals the truth.
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Often, yes, the cross directly challenges that dangerous
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self-confidence. OK, so we're humbled our
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self-reliance is exposed. What then?
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Well, that humbling, that's the turning point.
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It allows us to distrust yourself and then as a direct
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result, to transfer your trust to God.
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We learn to rest upon God alone. Because we've seen our own
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efforts fail. Precisely once our own inability
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is laid bare and we're humbled by it, we see how futile
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self-reliance really is. And then we realize it's God's
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ability alone, his sovereign strength, His provision, that
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enables us to stand firm, to keep going under the crushing
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weight of afflictions. So trust shifts from self to
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God. Yes, and that reliance on God, a
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trust that's often forged in adversity, that's what fosters
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real perseverance. It allows us to remain, in
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Calvin's words, unconquered to the end.
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So the process isn't just about tearing down pride.
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It's about rebuilding us the right way, with God Himself as
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our actual enduring foundation. That paints a very clear
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picture. God uses our weaknesses not to
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crush us, but to redirect our trust completely away from
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ourselves and on to His limitless strength.
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That's the idea. It makes you think, reflecting
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personally for a moment, can you recall a time when you really
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hit your own limits? When your personal resources or
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abilities just weren't cutting it?
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And how did that experience maybe surprisingly, lead you to
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put your confidence somewhere else, perhaps in God alone?
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Those are often the moments we remember most clearly, aren't
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they? When our own strengths fails.
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They are OK. So besides fostering humility in
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this deeper reliance on God, what other virtues does Calvin
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say suffering cultivates in a believer?
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What's this classroom function of the cross?
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Right. The cross definitely serves as a
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practical training ground for some key Christian qualities,
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particularly patience and genuine obedience.
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Patience and obedience. Yes, and God uses these
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experiences, Calvin argues, not because he needs to find out
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about our character. He already knows.
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He already knows everything. Rather, he uses them to reveal
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something vital to us, and maybe to the world around us too.
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Reveal what? Calvin says God afflicts his
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people to test their patience and to instruct them to
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obedience. But again, this testing isn't
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for God's information, It's to make manifesting clear the
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graces which He has conferred upon the Saints.
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To bring out the gifts he's already given.
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Exactly so that these divine gifts, these spiritual strengths
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He's put within us, may not lie idle, hidden within.
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They need to be exercised, brought out into the open, like.
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Working a muscle. That's a good analogy, yeah, he
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says. The most excellent gift of
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patience, that steadfastness and trouble is put to use and made
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certain and manifest through these very trials.
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It's like faith itself being proved by tribulations as gold
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is tested in a fiery furnace. Quoting first Peter 1.7.
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Gold in the furnace and. He points to Abraham's big test
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in Genesis 22, his piety, his deep trust and obedience.
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It was proven beyond doubt when he was willing to offer Isaac.
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So these trials bring to light and actually strengthen the
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spiritual fortitude God has already placed within us.
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They allow it to grow and become visible.
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OK, so it reveals and strengthens patience.
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What about obedience? Well, the cross is also direct
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instruction in obedience. It teaches believers to live not
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according to their own whim, but according to God's will.
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Not following our own desires, right?
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Think about it. If everything in life always
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went according to their own liking?
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If things were always smooth, comfortable, perfectly aligned
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with our personal preferences. We wouldn't learn much
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discipline. We would not know what it is to
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follow God, Calvin says. We wouldn't learn that vital
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discipline of yielding our own preferences to His higher wisdom
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and His plan. Makes sense?
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So the cross systematically accustoms believers to render
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obedience to Him in everything. It demonstrates that they are
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truly submitted to God's yoke. Under his authority, yes.
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Calvin even mentions the philosopher Seneca, who recalled
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an old proverb, Follow God. Even in the Pagan context, there
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was this hint of yielding to divine circumstances as a sign
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of submission. Now Seneca's idea of just
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yielding to necessity is different from Calvin's view of
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divine purpose, but it shows a sort of universal recognition
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that sometimes you have to yield to a higher power.
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For the Christian, though, this instruction and obedience means
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learning to actively align our will with gods even when it's
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hard, trusting that His way is always right.
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It's like divine schooling and how to truly live for him,
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whatever the situation. That's a compelling thought.
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Difficulties aren't just roadblocks.
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They're specifically designed opportunities for spiritual
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development, especially for cultivating patience and real
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active obedience. Thinking about that for
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yourself, how have those times of significant discipline, those
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really hard won lessons in your own life, taught you things you
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just wouldn't have learned any other way?
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Those are often the defining lessons, the ones that stick.
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They really are. Now, Calvin also uses these two
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related analogies. He describes the cross as both
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medicine and fatherly chastisement.
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What do those two images together tell us about God's
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purpose and our suffering? How do they show his
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involvement? Yeah, that those analogies,
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medicine and fatherly discipline, they really reveal
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God's loving and corrective intentions.
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They show He's consistently involved in our spiritual health
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and our ongoing shaping is His children.
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They're like two sides of the same coin of divine care.
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OK, let's take medicine first. How is suffering like medicine?
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Calvin talks about a wanton impulse of our flesh to shake
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off God's yoke, meaning we have this natural built in tendency
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to resist God's guidance and control, especially when we're
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comfortable doing well, feeling self-sufficient.
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We don't like being told what to do.
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Pretty much. He uses this really vivid
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picture. We're like meddlesome horses
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that are fattened in idleness. When they have plenty, they kick
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against him who is fed and nourished us.
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He's referencing Deuteronomy 32 there.
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OK, like unruly horses. Exactly.
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Just like an untrained or overfed horse might get wild and
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rebellious without proper handling, humans tend to get
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corrupted by indulgence and prosperity.
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We can become arrogant with honors, haughty when things go
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well, complacent in our spiritual walk.
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Right prosperity can be dangerous.
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It can be so Affliction in this picture acts as the remedy.
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It's the medicine precisely to keep us from going wild with
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abundance or getting puffed up with success.
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It subjects and restrains our unrestrained flesh.
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It brings us back down to earth. It does, and Cowan says God acts
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like a heavenly physician here. He applies the remedy of the
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cross in different ways, carefully tailored to each
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person's needs, because he knows that all to a man are diseased.
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Everyone needs some kind of medicine.
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Everyone needs the spiritual intervention for their health,
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according to Calvin. He knows exactly what type and
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dose of discipline is helpful for each of us.
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OK, so that's the medicine part, restraining our waywardness.
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What about fatherly chastisement?
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How does that add to the picture?
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Well, it's closely connected. The cross also functions as
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fatherly discipline or chastisement.
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God, described as a most merciful Father, uses the cross
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not to destroy us, but to correct past transgressions and
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also to keep us in lawful obedience to Himself.
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So correction and guidance. Yes, and this discipline isn't
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punitive like vengeful punishment.
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Instead, its purpose is to prevent us from being condemned
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along with the world. Quoting First Corinthians 11,
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it's a loving intervention to keep us on the right path, the
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path of salvation. It's for our own good,
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ultimately. Absolutely.
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And furthermore, Calvin argues, this chastisement is actually a
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clear sign of God's kindness and generosity.
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It serves as proof that we are his legitimate children, not
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illegitimate offspring who don't receive the firm, loving
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discipline of a parent. He quotes scripture for that
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too, right? He does.
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Proverbs 3. My son, do not despise the
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Lord's discipline, because the Lord disciplines those he loves
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as a father, the Son he delights in.
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And Hebrews 12 says if you don't have discipline, which all God's
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children share in, then you're illegitimate, not true sons.
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So discipline is a sign of sonship.
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It is God afflicts us not to ruin or destroy us, but rather
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to free us from the condemnation of the world, actively promoting
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our salvation. And this, Calvin says, reveals a
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key difference between believers and unbelievers and how they
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respond to hardship. What's the difference?
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Believers, like true children, respond to this loving
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chastisement by moving towards repentance, towards more
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obedience. Unbelievers, often acting like
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slaves to their own sin, tend to become worse, more stubborn,
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when they face affliction. Different responses to the same
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pressure. Right.
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So when you see the cross through these analogies,
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medicine and fatherly discipline, it becomes an act of
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deeply personal, loving parental care designed for our ultimate
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well-being and spiritual growth. That perspective offers well, it
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offers a lot of comfort and helps reorient things, doesn't
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it? It should to see God not as some
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harsh judge just handing out punishment, but as a loving
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father applying necessary discipline for our good.
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How does viewing affliction like that as loving correction change
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your perspective? When you face something really
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tough, does it shift your internal reaction?
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It helps to remember the loving hand behind it, even when it
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hurts. It changes the narrative.
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Yeah, it does. OK, so we've talked about the
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deep purpose behind suffering. But Christian patience?
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It isn't just passive, unfeeling endurance, is it?
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Calvin isn't saying we should become numb.
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No, absolutely not. So how does this active
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spiritual patience he describes differ from, say, other
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philosophical views about enduring pain, like Stoicism,
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for example, which often seems to push for emotional
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detachment? That's a really key distinction,
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and Calvin tackles it head on. Christian patience is active,
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it's deeply personal, and crucially, it acknowledges the
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reality of pain and human emotion.
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That makes it very different from the Stoic approach, which
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aimed for apathy or complete insensibility.
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OK, tell us about the Stoic view first.
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What were they aiming for? The Stoics, you know from
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ancient Greece and Rome, they aim for complete insensibility
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to pain, both physical and emotional.
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Their ideal was to cultivate this detached calm.
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Picturing their ideal great sold man as someone who was quite
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literally like a stone. Like a stone.
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Yeah, unaffected by hardship or good fortune, sad times or happy
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times. They actually considered it
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depraved, a sign of weakness to groan or weep or be sad or
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worry. Wow, that's extreme.
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It is, and Calvin points out that this ideal of being totally
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unmoved, it has never been found among men and can never be
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realized. He felt that by setting such an
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impossible standard, the Stoics actually made genuine
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forbearance impossible because their ideal was too exact and
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precise for real human life. So unattainable.
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Right, and their main reason for enduring pain was basically just
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necessity. You have to yield because
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fighting the inevitable is pointless.
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It's vain. They thought if there was a way
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out of pain, they're forced obedience might stop.
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So they tried to kill the desire for escape by killing the
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emotion itself. Just grit your teeth because you
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have no choice. That's the basic idea.
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How does Christian patients contrast with that?
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It's completely different. Christian patience does not mean
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getting rid of all feelings of bitterness or pain.
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Calvin explicitly states there would be no forbearance of the
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Saints unless they were tormented by pain and anguished
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by trouble. Patience require something
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difficult to be patient with. Good point.
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And to illustrate this, he points straight to Christ
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himself. Christ groaned and wept both
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over his own and others misfortunes.
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He sweat drops of blood and Gethsemane.
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He confessed his soul was sorrowful even to death.
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He felt it deeply. Deeply.
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And he even said, blessed are those who mourn directly
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validating human sorrow, not condemning it.
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Matthew 5.4. Exactly.
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And think about the Apostle Paul.
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He describes his own authentic struggle, saying things like we
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are pressed. But not rendered anxious,
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afflicted, but not left destitute.
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Persecuted but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed.
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2nd Corinthians 4. Right.
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That clearly shows Christian patience allows for and often
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involves real human emotion, the actual experience of suffering,
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not a denial of it. So what is Christian patience
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then, if it's not stoic numbness?
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Calvin describes it more like an internal contradiction, almost a
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struggle. On one side you have our natural
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sense, our human instinct, which naturally flees and dreads
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things that feel bad. We recoil from pain, That's
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normal. But on the other side, you have
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our disposition to godliness, a regenerated spirit, the part of
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us that wants to align with God's will, and that part
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presses toward obedience to the divine will.
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So a tension inside. A real tension, and this is
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where the believers fortitude, their strength is shown.
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When they are tried by the feeling of such bitterness, they
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valiantly resist the natural urge to despair or give up.
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They surmount it not by their own willpower alone, but by
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resting in God's spiritual consolation, His comfort.
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Resting in God's comfort even while feeling the pain, Yes.
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Even amidst the pricks of pain, amid groaning in tears, the
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settled conclusion in the heart remains.
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The Lord so willed. Therefore, let us follow His
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will. And this spiritual strength is
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inner resolve somehow allows the heart to be diffused with
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spiritual joy even in the midst of suffering.
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Joy emits pain. How does that work?
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It's a spiritual joy, a deep sense of God's presence and
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purpose that doesn't necessarily erase the sorrow but coexist
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with it. And this leads to genuine
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Thanksgiving, which Calvin notes cannot exist without joy.
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You can't be truly thankful if there isn't some underlying joy
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or peace. So it's not suppressing the
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pain, but finding a deeper reality alongside it.
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That seems to be the idea, and the reason for Christian
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endurance also sets it apart. How so?
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It comes from thinking about God's will and His Providence,
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recognizing His righteousness and equity, His fairness and His
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loving concern for our own salvation in all afflictions,
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even the painful ones. Trusting his character and
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purpose. Exactly.
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It's not just yielding to inevitable necessity because
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resistance is pointless, like the Stoics might say.
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The Christian endures because it is unlawful to resist.
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Impatience would be, Calvin says, insolence against God's
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righteousness. Wow, strong words.
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Insolence. Yes, because recognizing that
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these afflictions are ultimately for our salvation and good, that
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they serve a divine beneficial purpose that allows believers to
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go through them with a thankful and quiet mind, consenting to
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them for their own ultimate good rather than just resigning
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themselves to the inevitable. It transforms endurance from
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your coping into an act of worship and trust.
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That perspective is well, it's quite freeing, isn't it?
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I find it so yes. You're not only allowed to feel
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the pain, to grieve, to struggle, you're actually
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expected to, but then you're called to meet it bravely, with
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God's help, finding that spiritual joy even within the
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difficulty. Right.
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The struggle is real, but so is God's grace.
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This idea of a real spiritual struggle, not just bottling up
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emotions, it really resonates. How does that approach feeling
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the pain but still seeking God's will?
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How does that sit with or maybe challenge your own experience
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when facing tough? Yeah, it gives permission to be
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human while still calling us higher.
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Yeah, OK. As we start to wrap up this deep
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dive, let's focus on what feels like the culmination of Calvin's
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teaching here. The unexpected blessings, the
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rich fruits that can actually come from suffering, especially
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when it's endured for the sake of righteousness.
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What are these ultimate benefits from such a hard path?
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Right. This is where Calvin shows the
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amazing reversal God brings about suffering, especially when
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it's for doing what's right for righteousness's sake, brings
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unique blessings and powerfully confirms God's faithfulness in
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really striking ways. It completely flips the script
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on how the world usually sees hardship and loss.
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How does it confirm God's faithfulness?
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By patiently going through a tribulation, believers actually
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get to experience the fact that God, when there is need,
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provides the assistance that He has.
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Promised they see him show. Up, they see Him show up.
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It's not just theology on a page, it becomes a lived
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reality. And this personal, undeniable
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experience of God's consistent help, His reliable aid when
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things are desperate, it strengthens their hope.
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Hope for the future? Yes, it builds this confident
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expectation that God will continue to be truthful and
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faithful in the future because His faithfulness has been proven
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constant in the past. This confirmation of God's truth
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seen through personal encounters with His help, it enables
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believers to persevere, to remain unconquered to the end
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through his sustaining grace. It really knocks down any
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lingering false ideas about our own strength or about God being
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distant. OK, so it builds hope through
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experience. What about suffering
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specifically for righteousness? Yes, Calvin highlights that
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suffering persecution for righteousness's sake is a
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singular comfort. He calls it a special badge of
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his soldiery given by God. He's echoing Matthew 5.10 there.
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's
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sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
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A badge of honor, in a sense. In a very real spiritual sense,
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and this includes suffering for defending God's truth against
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error, or maybe for protecting the innocent against injustice,
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even if doing so put your life, our fortunes, or our honor at
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risk. Standing up for what's right,
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even when it costs you. Exactly.
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And here's the truly astonishing part Calvin draws from
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Scripture. When God's favors on you in that
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situation, every one of these things turns into happiness for
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us. Loss turns into happiness.
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How? It's a paradox, an inversion of
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worldly values. Look at the specific examples
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Calvin gives. If you lose your possessions for
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doing right, it leads to an increase in true riches in
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heaven, treasures that moth and rust can't destroy.
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OK, if you're cast out of your home for your faith, you are
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then more intimately received into God's family, gaining A
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deeper sense of belonging in His spiritual household.
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Closer community with God and his people.
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Right. If you're hassled and despised
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by others because of your faith, that actually helps you take all
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the firmer root in Christ, solidifying your connection to
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Him. If you're publicly disgraced,
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shamed for standing for truth, it leads to a fuller place in
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the Kingdom of God. Greater honor in the age to
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come. Earthly loss.
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Heavenly gain. Precisely.
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And even the ultimate loss, if you are killed for
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righteousness, it opens the entrance into the blessed life,
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ushering you straight into eternal joy.
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Christ Himself, Calvin says, actually desires to be glorified
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in us through this kind of suffering.
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Peter talks about this too. Our afflictions become a public
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display of his victory and our loyalty.
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It's like being counted worthy to suffer for his name.
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That's an incredible reversal of perspective, isn't it?
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It truly is. What the world sees the absolute
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worst outcome, loss, disgrace, even death, God, in His wisdom
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and plan, uses for our greatest spiritual benefit and for His
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own highest honor. It turns seeming defeat into the
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most blessed reality. That's the picture Calvin
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paints, drawn from the biblical witness.
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So as we bring this deep dive to a close, here's something to
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chew on if the cross. This experience of affliction we
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all face in different ways isn't just a heavyweight we have to
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drag around. But is actually a deliberate
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tool, A tool in the loving hand of God, designed to shape your
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character, refine you, draw you into a closer walk with Christ,
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and ultimately reveal His incredible faithfulness.
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How might really grasping that understanding reframe your daily
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outlook when you face adversity, big or small?
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It changes everything potentially.
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Yeah, what seemingly minor trials, maybe just daily
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frustrations, might you start to view differently not just as
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annoyances, but maybe as tiny opportunities for that divine
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shaping, for spiritual growth? It invites us to look deeper
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than the surface circumstances. It really does.
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Our sincere hope really is that you listening, can embrace this
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perspective, not just intellectually, you know, but
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down deep as a guiding principle.
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It's a truth that offers real stability, even a kind of
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spiritual joy when things around you are difficult or painful.
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It really prompts us to fix our gaze not just on the problem,
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but on the gracious, just and sovereign God who is working
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purposefully in all things, always aiming for the ultimate
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good of His children. Well said.
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Thank you for joining us today for the deep dive.
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We really hope this discussion has given you a clearer sense of
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the Christian perspective on suffering, particularly through
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Calvin's lens, and giving you something valuable to think
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about. May it be helpful.
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Until next time, keep seeking a fuller understanding of these
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deep truths.