You hear about all kinds of freedom . . . freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of choosing to keep or terminate the unborn, freedom of worship, etc. It seems that basically, people demand the freedom of being able to do whatever they wish to do, calling it their right. But all such freedoms are created by man and none of them can set you free. The only true freedom we ever need is the freedom given by God when we submit ourselves to him, for we are only free when we get to do God's will. Think about it.
Monday, September 4, 2017
**Know God to Know
Know God and you will know. Here "you will know" means you will know all you need to know, which is the will of God.
*Unique Lord
It struck me that when Jesus asked his disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him, and spelled out other stringent demands to all, he did it out of love for our good and not in any way to lord it over us. Unlike the lords, gurus, teachers, leaders, kings, heads of state . . . of the world, he had no ego, no ulterior motive, and no self-glorification. He simply reveals what we need to know for us to be saved.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Yearning for God
Today my heart sees and my soul knows clearly that if everyone would understand, believe in, and follow Christ, we will have the most beautiful world to live in. But, alas, it's no use dreaming about it, only something to pray for. All this makes me yearn for and seek solace in the Lord even more – how much he loves us and how much we need him!
How God Has Made Us
We can see that St. Augustine is right in saying that God has made us for himself so that our hearts are restless until they rest in him. If you think about it, you'll see the many different ways God has made us. One came to me today: God has made us so that we feel uneasy when we avoid him. This becomes obvious when you talk to people about God.
Spiritual Warfare Time
In today's crazy, godless world, the spiritual warfare being waged against God is so fierce that we need to hold onto the Lord for dear life to be sure of survival. For Christians, this is not the time to lay back, remain neutral, or be just lukewarm. It's time to do as St. Paul advised in Ephesians 6: Put on the armor of God to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. Stand fast for the gospel of peace. Hold faith as a shield to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. It's time to fight hell like hell!
*Why Trust God?
The reason we should trust God is that he sees the overall picture for all eternity, while we only see one thing happening at one time.
Too Big for Heaven?
The gate that leads to life is narrow. Many cannot go in simply because their big inflated ego makes it impossible for them to get through it. Deflate the ego with humility and things should work out all right.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
No Quick Faith
I believe that by the time you are aware that Jesus has arrived on Judgment Day, it is already too late to repent and ask for God's forgiveness, for faith would be absent. The time to believe is before you die or the Second Coming, whichever happens first.
Humorous Observation
At church this morning, the larger than normal attendance told me that parishioners were there for Saturday morning confession. I noticed that some people who usually sits elsewhere chose to sit in the last row closest to the confession room, hoping to get to confession first. What happened was that this made them almost last in going up to receive Communion. And by the time they came back, those who received Communion first had already lined up for confession. So it's a case of "the last will be last, and the first will be first" or perhaps "hoping to be first will be last, but planning to be first will be first."
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