It should be
comforting to know that God is waiting for us to call out to him; to
respond to his call for us to love him. It is that simple that it
becomes so hard to accept in this life of ours where most solutions
to problems present themselves as being complicated and overwhelming.
We are indeed his children and with that we are invited to envelope
ourselves with his fatherly love. When we do wrong and sin we can
find ourselves paralyzed by guilt. We feel unworthy in the eyes of
God and in the eyes of society. We become our most vocal critic and
accuser. We can easily feel that we are being judged by everyone from
our closest friends and family to a complete stranger walking down
the street. In reality, that is a good thing. God does not want us to
be overcome with this guilt but only to be aware that in some way we
did wrong and need to repent because of our actions. He offers us
this opportunity through the sacrifice of his son and a realization
of our birthright being his children. We have been claimed by Christ
and now are challenged to discern what that truly means.
Reflecting on
the story of Sodom and Gomorrah the message of love and salvation can
easily be lost in the example of God's punishment of the sinners who
dwelt within the walls of those two cities. But God's message is
clear: the innocent will be spared destruction. Who are the innocent?
They represent all of us to come forward to repent and love God.
Doing wrong and doing evil are choices which are offered to everyone.
During the course of our lives we will be presented challenges daily
in regards to this. The spiritual battle between Good and Evil rages
within us constantly. Sodom and Gomorrah displays an example of where
the spiritual battle has been completely lost and what happens
eventually when God is completely rejected. There will always be
those who have made that choice and embraced evil with a twisted sort
of joy. There will be those who build their lives around sin and
blind themselves to God's beautiful and wondrous creation.
We must not
judge these individuals but must separate ourselves from them in
order to let God shape us by his love. If we judge through our
thoughts and actions then we will be susceptible to the same judgment
and lack of mercy that we are tempted to impose. Paul explains in his
letter to the Romans how the law itself represents a constant
presence of sin. For it is through the law that we become conscious
of sin which we are all susceptible to. It is through Jesus that the
chains of sin are broken and we are offered mercy and love. All we
have to do is ask. With that action of accepting Jesus Christ we are
then resurrected with him; our sins and their consequences being left
hanging on the cross. We are ushered into a new life. A life full of
love and repentance.
A life with
Jesus represents a constant state of renewal. We must keep our eyes
transfixed on the Light of Christ so that we do not stumble off the
trail of salvation into the darkness. This takes a commitment on our
part to reflect on our behavior and actions. We have to want to do
better in order to do better. We must be critical of ourselves, seek
forgiveness, know that we are forgiven, and then better ourselves. As
Christians, this should happen every day. We cry out to God and he
will answer. There will be those who will need our help and there
will be those who will be willing to help us. It becomes a shared
experience.
Jesus speaks
about persistence and the value it has to us as Christians.
Persistence represents a dedication to God and an understanding that
he will indeed answer our prayers. It is a matter faith that we come
to God knowing that he loves us and will give us what we ask. The
gifts will be bountiful and benefits many. We have all tried to put
our reliance on society and in humanity while ignoring God; I am sure
all of us have stories in this respect. The choice becomes all the
more clear. Do we come forward and seek God in our lives, looking for
the light, or do we continue stumbling in the darkness?
Deacon Tom
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