Failure is not an Option

These are serious matters, and I’m like a jester lighting fires and walking in the sparks I conjure. Let’s agree, for the moment, that Lucifer had been perfect until, out of nowhere, a random fault arose in his thoughts, profaning the pristine whole and refashioning him as a victim by opening the floodgates of his inner being to all kinds of imperfection. How might he have defended himself against this invasive force that had caused him to fall short?

He was the covering cherub! What had he missed? Even for him to have contemplated a scenario by which he could become a victim would have been faithless, an error in and of
itself! Nor would any explanation or excuse add to his defense; for the father is pleased by faith, which is God’s to give or to withhold.

We know that Lucifer acted in faith by two points: the father said he was perfect in all his ways; and the Son of the Morning held his silence when the judgment came upon him. He didn’t chafe at the father’s words. He accepted the father’s righteousness without question. He must therefore have believed all things would work together to the benefit of all because he trusted in the father’s faithfulness, his merciful goodness, his grace. There’s a diligence that is not born of faith, but of a fearful desire for self-preservation, just as there’s a resignation that is a man’s ultimate expression of faith; for greater love has no man than this, that he lays his life down for his friends.

The gospels warn that willful discipline, though seeming right, can even war against faith by nullifying the father’s counsel. If Lucifer had calculated that his performance gave him reason to boast and that he could maintain his competence through willpower, a plainly pejorative judgment against the imperfection found in him would have been forthcoming; because if he had taken the bit between his teeth and had looked to himself on behalf of himself, he would have essentially dared hla to intervene, and the fiery cherub would have set heaven ablaze with posturing and glib gossip as every angel looked to his own advantage without regard for his fellows.

If a claim of diligence had been acceptable, Lucifer would have established justification for pride, opening himself and all others to far greater upheaval as the dual focus on creature and creator became adopted by all. Had he shelved dependence on hla to depend on a heroic self-diligence, which he would then have to maintain on an eternal scale, he could not long have forestalled disaster; for the ever-growing, dead-weight burden of such a defense would prove to be too cumbersome, even for the Light Bearer. When things are conditional, the imbalance of duality develops and worsens.

The gospels warn that willful discipline, though seeming right, can even war against faith by nullifying the father’s counsel. If Lucifer had calculated that his performance gave him reason to boast and that he could maintain his competence through willpower, a plainly pejorative judgment against the imperfection found in him would have been forthcoming; because if he had taken the bit between his teeth and had looked to himself on behalf of himself, he would have essentially dared hla to intervene, and the fiery cherub would have set heaven ablaze with posturing and glib gossip as every angel looked to his own advantage without regard for his fellows.