Section 14
and it is only through death that He can cleave a way for Himself into your life.
Prior to my coming here, I visited a large tex tile factory in Manila. There I watched a process whereby certain materials were produced. But after the perfect fabric had been created, I saw a second process take place. That perfect fabric was plunged into a bath of dye where it lost all its beauty. It was a sorry sight. However, it was in that state that the dye permeated the fabric, and a new element was added to it. So it is with the old creation. It must pass through a devas tating process if it is to be permeated by the presence of God.
I was deeply impressed as I stood in that fac tory watching the two processes and comparing the fabrics that emerged from the first and the second. They were not actually different fabrics, but some of them, passing through a state that temporarily destroyed their loveliness, had a new and permanent beauty imparted to them.
What is the significance of suffering? It is this, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself into His crea tures so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The