"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."
(Jer. 17:9-10)

Hard truths and painful prayers are best for the soul. Instead, we naturally prefer comfort over conviction. Therefore, sin in the heart more often than not controls our words and actions and does so with the gloss of self-righteousness.

It takes time for the healing work of self-examination that will expose the selfish motives we imagine as holiness and love. Time is what we often hoard as we protect ourselves from the counseling voice of God. No time to listen in our busy lives means we won't have to face the deeper call for repentance that God knows we need.

Yet if we will let a vision of the Cross of Christ dominate our heart we will slowly, painfully (as in crucifixion) begin to understand what it means to love in the midst of suffering, to have faith in the darkness, to lovingly embrace those who humiliate us, and to offer salvation to the ones suffering at our side.