Paradise— The Greatest of Gifts

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verything in heaven and on earth bows to God, but no natural act of prostration can compare to man’s obeisance. Other creatures submit to God involuntarily. Man does so expressly, of his own free will.

Man submits to God consciously and independently. No action in the world can compare with man’s submission. Herein lies the real value of man. Man is the only creature who is fully aware of his total helplessness in the face of God’s omnipotence. He counts himself as nothing and God as everything. He renounces his own ego in the face of divinity. He forsakes all power and surrenders totally to God. He controls his speech for God’s sake, as if he had no tongue of his own.

Becoming a true believer is the greatest thing that can happen in the world. The reward for such belief must be similarly great. Heaven is the name of that reward. Paradise is not the price of one’s actions: it is the gift of God. It is granted to those who offer God something which nothing else in the universe has offered. Accordingly, it is a gift which He has granted to no other creature.