The Heartbreak of Disloyalty
Greetings, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to
explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly
Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This
morning we seek to understand the heartbreak of disloyalty towards the Father's love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Heartbreak of Disloyalty Towards the Father's Love
" A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she
is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into
the world." John, Chapter 16, Verse 21.
Brothers and sisters, consider the meaning in this story. A young unthoughtful fellow enlists in the
Marine Corps. He has heard that they are looking for a few good men, and he considers himself one.
He has heard about their esprit de corps. He admires their cohesiveness--their ability to stick
together. He is impressed by their dedication to duty. He has heard that sometimes they even die
pursuing their duty. He admires their courage, discipline, and faithfulness.
As he contemplates these qualities, he wonders how they developed them. As he searches his own
soul, he catches glimpses of these qualities every now and then, but he has never seen them
manifested in the way they are consistently manifested with the marines.
The first day he arrives at their training camp, he experiences the shock of his young life. He
discovers that he is considered worthless. All of his former values, meanings, and things are
disregarded. The things that he has brought with him he is either forced to send back home or throw
away. He is not allowed to keep any of these things of his former life. The values that he has been
taught while growing up are systematically destroyed. The meanings that he holds are abruptly
changed as he learns the meanings of pain and suffering.
His body is driven to the point of utter exhaustion, and then even further. He is allowed little time
to eat and sleep. Rest is a precious commodity, and his mind is constantly pushed to the breaking
point. The only constant is pain and suffering. He is steadily harassed. He can do nothing right. There
is something always wrong with whatever he does. Finally he is forced to abandon all the former
things, meanings, and values of his former life. He is now ready to become a marine, to learn the
things, the meanings, and the values of this way of life.
In like manner, when we set out to join the army of those dedicated to doing the Father's will, we
must be transformed into the image of the Father's son. We have heard of this army's boundless joy
and endless peace. We are impressed with its humility and sincerity. We are amazed by members'
ever-increasing faith and undying hope. We are flabbergasted by their invincible and indestructible
attitude towards the problems of life. We are bewildered by their refreshing kindness and
spontaneous love for each other, even their enemies. We are mystified by their apparent
consciousness of God, and we are left speechless and dumbfounded by such statements as: "I Love
everybody, even my enemies," and "I am not afraid to die; not everyone can say that."
We are tremendously impressed by their implicit trust in God. No matter what happens in their
material lives, they go right on trusting in the goodness of God. We are astonished by their
dedication to doing the Father's will. It is beyond our comprehension how the Father's will is
consciously desired but unconsciously done. We are dazed by the things they are concerned with;
nonplused by the meanings they hold and disconcerted by the values they pursue.
When we search our own minds and souls for these things, meanings, and values of the spirit, we
see nothing but a void, darker than midnight's ink. But there is something strangely compelling about
soldiers of the Father's army who seek to find the Father through His Son, Jesus, so one night during
a church revival or doing a prayer, or some upheaval in our lives, we confess Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior and dedicate ourselves to doing the Father's will. There is a tremendous amount of
joy and peace associated with this decision in our minds and souls, but the temporary emotional joy
of making this decision must give way to more enduring joy of the eternal spirit. We begin basic
training for those who have decided to follow Jesus.
When we arrive at Fort Cross, the home of the brave and the bold, the first thing that catches our
eyes above a large cross is the enigmatic slogan: "A heart that is not true to God will be broken,
while a heart that is true to God will never be broken." At first this slogan appears very easy to
understand, but the more we ponder this slogan in our hearts, the more confusing and mystifying it
becomes.
Training begins at once. The first training session is on humility, subtitled "The destruction of pride."
During this training session we suffer all kinds of indignities at the hands of evil doers. Our lives
literally become a target for them as they test our resolve to do the Father's will. Even the people who
are supposed to love us test our resolve. And we are subjected to these challenges, again and again
until even the faintest trace of resentment is destroyed. These ceaseless evil challenges destroy all
of our self pride, but in the very midst of the destruction of our self pride, divine pride shines through
our souls. Now it no longer matters what challenges the evil doer mounts towards us as long as the
divine pride shines through us. And throughout all of these evil challenges, we are only allowed to
respond with acts of love and forgiving acts of mercy. Remember, "He never said a mumbling
word," except "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
The next training session is on loyalty, subtitled "The Destruction of Selfishness." During this
training session disease smiles upon us, and we suffer on the bed of affliction. While we suffer on
the bed of affliction, we watch the death of some of our loved ones. We watch our financial star fall
as we get caught in the web of economic disaster. We slowly watch our dearest and most cherished
dreams perish. We watch painfully as all the self sufficiency of our souls are destroyed. This is the
straw that breaks the camel's back, and it breaks our heart, but now divine sufficiency reigns.
Remember, "He had no place to lay his head."
The final training session is on faith and hope, subtitled "The Death of Unbelief." During this session
we continue through the rest of our material life with occasional broken hearts. We continue through
life with our fortunes out to sea. Time and again, there appears no way for us, until the last possible
moment, where we literally snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. So dire is our situation that we
are unable to store up any resources. "According to His riches in glory, He will supply all of our
spiritual needs."
Everything that we need spiritually is supplied, as it is needed from the source of all sources, even
God the Father. Time and again we are taken to the brink of spiritual disaster only to be delivered
at the last moment by our unconquerable faith. As we continue through the years, a sublime trust
develops in our souls as the Father brings us through every obstacle and barrier that prevents us from
doing His divine will. Now our hearts are true and will never be broken again. We now completely
understand the meanings of that slogan: A heart that is not true to God will be broken, while a heart
that is true to God will never be broken. We understand that we could not possibly be true to God
at first, since we were true to so many other things, meanings, and values. Thus, heartbreak was
inevitable. But now faith and hope is God's guarantee that our hearts will never be broken again.
This concludes today's message on the heartbreak of disloyalty towards the Father's love. We hope
you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day. Until next
time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Heartbreak of Disloyalty
