2/28/11 - Do Not Worry

I couldn't let Sunday's gospel pass.  It's been huge in my own personal spiritual development.

Matthew 6:36-54

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

----------

I know a lot of people in my life that if I could make one wish come true for them, it would be  ....  that they would stop worrying.

If you don't remember anything else from this message, remember this.  Christ looked the disciples in the eye and asked them who of them, by worrying, could add even a SINGLE MOMENT to their lives. He's telling them (and us) that the whole process of worrying is absolutely useless in this life.  It accomplishes nothing.  Nothing.  NOTHING.  There are no benefits to it.

The anxieties of each and every day are a series of barriers that we place between ourselves and God.  Some of are big and have significant worldy impacts.  Others are small and don't mean very much, even in wordly terms.  But all of them are barriers, and truly the biggest impact is that we choose to place them between us and God. When we worry, we are focused completely on ourselves.  Worries keep us from focusing on God.  They keep us from trusting Him, from depending on Him, and from serving Him.

Here's a great objective for Lent -- start training yourself to give your worries over to God.   One way you can do that is have a "worry list" or a "worry bucket".  If you note yourself being worried about something, write it down, and say a small prayer handing it over to God.  If you want, you can write it on a small piece of paper and put it in a jar.  If you're more of a geek like me, you can make a chart.  If you worry about it again, give it to God again.  Make another entry on the list, or put another piece of paper in the jar. Do it as many times as you need to.

At the end of lent, go back through the list, and review the data.  How many times did you worry about something?  What was the resolution?  Did the worrying do anything to help the situation?  Were you able to give worries away to God?  If so, did life get easier for you?

Start with something small.  Over time you'll build confidence in two things -- that worrying is useless, and that giving worries over to God works.  These are the building blocks.  Eventually you'll be ready to hand over bigger and bigger issues.  And once you can do that, it's time to celebrate your liberation.

2/25/11 - Accept The Kingdom of God Like A Child

Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
“Let the children come to me; do not prevent them,
for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced the children and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.

-------

When we were children, we have full faith in our parents. We depended on our parents for everything, down to the most basic of needs. We trusted them completely. We knew they were always looking out for us, even when they disciplined us.

That's how we're supposed to look at the Kingdom of God. Complete dependence and complete trust. Even when we don't understand.

2/24/11 - Delay Not Your Conversion

From today's first reading (Sirach 5:1-8)

Of forgiveness be not overconfident,

adding sin upon sin.
Say not: “Great is his mercy;
my many sins he will forgive.”
For mercy and anger alike are with him;
upon the wicked alights his wrath.
Delay not your conversion to the LORD,
put it not off from day to day.
For suddenly his wrath flames forth;
at the time of vengeance you will be destroyed.
Rely not upon deceitful wrath,
for it will be no help on the day of wrath.

From today's gospel (Mark 9:42-48)

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,

it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

-----------

This is a great message to consider as we march toward Lent.

God's mercy is beyond our comprehension.  But presuming his mercy is a dangerous game indeed.  This passage warns us about two things -- leading other people into sin, and continuing a life of sin ourselves.

Time after time in the gospels, Jesus concludes a meeting with an individual with "Go and sin no more."  He didn't say that just for the fun of it.  We haven't been redeemed so that we can just continue in our old ways, confident that no matter what we do God will forgive us because we "believe."  We have been redeemed so that we can change.  So that we can conform to God's will.  So that we begin glorifying Him by doing the work He has planned for us.  So that we can "go and sin no more."

Presuming that we CAN'T do that ultimately sells Christ short.  It is true that we can't avoid sin on our own.  But Christ can, and He shares His Divinity with us.  Delay not your conversion.  With Him, all is possible! 

2/23/11 - Whoever Is Not Against Us Is For Us

Mark 9:38-40

 

John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”

------

 

I didn't quite know what to do with this passage.  It's clear to me that Christ is saying that authentic Christian works can be done by anyone, regardless of what group he is from.  But how do I balance that with my belief that the Catholic Church contains the full richness of the faith that other denominations lack?  I found a nice reflection on this passage at ParishWorld.net, written by Fr. Jim Kirstein from the Philippines. 

 

"The real challenge of the gospel is whether we accept that the Spirit of God works wherever he wishes and through whomsoever he wishes. It is necessary to remember that the truth is always bigger than anyone’s understanding of it. No one can possibly grasp all truth. We simply must be open to the Spirit’s working in our world.

This call for tolerance is not a lazy acceptance of anything that goes. It does mean respecting the freedom of conscience of another as the documents of the Second Vatican Council tell us. But if groups putting forward doctrines calculated to destroy morality and to remove the foundations from all civilized and Christian society then they are to be combated. "

 

Link:  ParishWorld.net Reflection 

2/22/11 - Walk Before God in Humility

This is from Imitation of Christ.  I read it for my devotional this morning.  I edited it a bit just to shorten it.

 

I titled this blog "Life in the Spirit" because that's what I'm searching for.  St. Paul mentions it in his writings here and there, but the description is fleeting.  The last paragraph of this text, written more than 500 years ago, gives as good a description as I can find anyhere.  

 

------  

 

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

 

MY CHILD, walk before Me in truth, and seek Me always in the simplicity of your heart. He who walks before Me in truth shall be defended from the attacks of evil, and the truth shall free him from seducers and from the slanders of wicked men. For if the truth has made you free, then you shall be free indeed, and you shall not care for the vain words of men.

 

I shall teach you those things which are right and pleasing to Me. Consider your sins with great displeasure and sorrow, and never think yourself to be someone because of your good works. You are truly a sinner. You are subject to many passions and entangled in them. Let nothing seem important or precious or desirable except that which is everlasting. Fear nothing, abhor nothing, and fly nothing as you do your own vices and sins; these should be more unpleasant for you than any material losses.

 

Some men walk before Me without sincerity. Led on by a certain curiosity and arrogance, they wish to know My secrets and to understand the high things of God, to the neglect of themselves and their own salvation. Through their own pride and curiosity, and because I am against them, such men often fall into great temptations and sins.
 

Some carry their devotion only in books, some in pictures, some in outward signs and figures. Some have Me on their lips when there is little of Me in their hearts. Others, indeed, with enlightened understanding and purified affections, constantly long for everlasting things; they are unwilling to hear of earthly affairs and only with reluctance do they serve the necessities of nature. These sense what the Spirit of truth speaks within them: for He teaches them to despise earthly things and to love those of heaven, to neglect the world, and each day and night to desire heaven.

 

--Imitation of Christ.  Book 3, Chapter 4 - WE MUST WALK BEFORE GOD IN HUMILITY AND TRUTH.   Link:  http://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/imitation/imb3c01-10.html#RTFToC108

2/21/11 - I Have Much More To Tell You

John 16:12-13a

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth."

-------

These few words tell us a basic truth:  God is so far above us and so beyond our comprehension that we literally can't handle the full scope of what He wants to teach us.  

Because we are fallen, and because we place so many hurdles between us and Him, we aren't able to learn what he wants to teach.  We haven't matured spiritually enough to understand it. 

I think of it as trying to teach calculus to a first grader.  We don't go from first grade math to calculus in one step. We have to learn very basic principles and build on them for years and years and years until we're ready.  We need to learn to count, then to add and subtract, then multiply and divide, then deal with fractions and shapes, and algebra, and so on.

Growing spiritually is similar in that we need to slowly build on basic truths before we are ready for more.   The problem is that many of us (like myself) spend years and years tied up in other things, and not pursuing spiritual truth, even though our souls are starving for it.  We may be physically, emotionally, and intellectually mature, but our souls can still be first graders. 

For spiritual growth, the basic building blocks are the Sacraments, Scripture, and Prayer.  Most important, though, is to recognize our basic desire for God, and committing to satisfying that desire. If we do that and work on the basic building blocks, he will send us the Spirit of truth to guide us.  

Eventually we understand that as we choose to move away from our will (ie, deny ourselves) and conform to His will, he transforms us.  Bit by bit, we advance along the path, and become able to understand more of what Christ wants to teach us.  

2/18/11 - Deny Yourself, Pick Up The Cross, and Follow Me

Mark 8:34 - 9:1

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
in this faithless and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of
when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

He also said to them,
“Amen, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death
until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”

-------

This passage is absolutely critical to spiritual growth.  It also can be very difficult to accept and truly understand. 

I spent years and years trying to talk myself into believing that self-denial really wasn't necessary.  What was important was that I had faith.  I believed.  I believed in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I believe that Christ came to save what was lost.  I believed that the penalty for MY sins was death, and that He came personally to atone for them.  I believed all of this.

All that mattered was this belief.  After all, St. Paul said that we are saved by grace, through faith, and not through works.  He said that all sin and fall short of the glory of God.  That means that there's nothing I can do to earn my way into heaven.  So I should relax, rejoice in God, and be assured that I am saved.  I should strive to live as Christ taught, but it was impossible, and he'd understand as long as I tried.

Here's the problem with that line of thinking:  THAT'S NOT WHAT CHRIST SAID.  Christ said deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.

Why are these things necessary?   It has to do with walking away from our will, and giving ourselves over to God's will.  I could try and explain, but I'll defer to Pope John Paul 2:

Jesus does not ask us to give up living, but to accept a newness and a fullness of life that only He can give. The human being has a deep-rooted tendency to "think only of self", to regard one's own person as the centre of interest and to see oneself as the standard against which to gauge everything. One who chooses to follow Christ, on the other hand, avoids being wrapped up in himself and does not evaluate things according to self interest. He looks on life in terms of gift and gratuitousness, not in terms of conquest and possession. Life in its fullness is only lived in self-giving, and that is the fruit of the grace of Christ: an existence that is free and in communion with God and neighbor.

If to live as a follower of the Lord becomes the highest value, then all other values are given their rightful rank and importance. Whoever depends solely on worldly goods will end up by losing, even though there might seem to be an appearance of success. Death will find that person with an abundance of possessions but having lived a wasted life (cf. Lk 12:13-21). Therefore, the choice is between being and having, between a full life and an empty existence, between truth and falsehood.

As the cross can be reduced to being an ornament, "to carry the cross" can become just a manner of speaking. In the teaching of Jesus, however, it does not imply the pre-eminence of mortification and denial. It does not refer primarily to the need to endure patiently the great and small tribulations of life, or, even less, to the exaltation of pain as a means of pleasing God. It is not suffering for its own sake that a Christian seeks, but love. When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love.

Excerpted from Pope John Paul II's MESSAGE TO THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD,

THE XVI WORLD YOUTH DAY, 14 February 2001.

Link to more:

http://oldarchive.godspy.com/meditations/Deny-yourself-pick-up-your-cross-and-follow-Me-Meditation-by-Pope-John-Paul-II.cfm.html

2/16/11 - A Joyful Jubilee

 

 

John 14:28

 

You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.

-----

 

My mother died a year ago today.

 

As I walked into mass this morning, I thought of this verse.  I personally think the Holy Spirit called it to my attention.  Christ is referring to his own death, but this verse carries a teaching that we all should cherish.  There is certainly sadness in death, and there is definitely a time to mourn.  However, we Christians know that it is a gateway to something far, far better.   

 

That is definitely the case with my mother.  She was 89 when she died, and had been living with Alzheimer's and a couple of other physical ailments for 5+ years.  The Alzheimer's was bad enough to where she would go days without speaking at all, and when she did speak, is was never more than a couple of words.  She didn't recognize her children or grandchildren at all, which of course was harder on us than it was on her.

 

The Holy Spirit reminded me this morning that Christ came and brought her home, and relieved her from that suffering.  He reminded me that this is a day for celebration, not for mourning.  Her labors on earth are over, and now she beholds the Divine.

 

Alleluia!

2/15/11 - The Leaven of the Pharisees

Mark 8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
-------

This reading provides a great lesson of how easy it is to take your eyes off the spirit.

Christ uses leavened bread as a metaphor for the dangers presented by the Pharisees, and of Herod. That type of leaven -- the leaven of the world that rejects Him -- will poison the bread that they are trying to make.

The disciples hear this teaching and completely miss it. Sitting here now, it seems amazing that they could miss it. They think Christ is worried about food, even though they have watched him feed 9,000 people with a total of twelve loaves of bread. They've seen him walk on water, and calm the sea. They've seen him heal a leper and a deaf man. It must have left Christ shaking His head.

On the other hand, I completely understand. It is so easy for me to allow the flesh to interfere with what the spirit is trying to teach me.  This is why it is so necessary to commit to putting the flesh to death in your life -- the flesh prevents you from understanding what God is truly saying to you.  You can't advance very far spiritually without taking that step.  Christ told us that we need to do it.  Paul told us that we need to do it.  Over the last 2,000 years, Saint after Saint after Saint has told us that we need to do it.

The testimony is strong and unanimous!

2/14/11 - Few Love The Cross of Christ

The first thing I do each day is usually to mediate over the Gospels. Right now I'm in John 15, and am taking a slow stroll through the Upper Room discourse. The next thing I do is read a chapter from "The Imitation of Christ", which I've mentioned in several emails over the years. Here was part of the reading today:
-----

JESUS has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting.

All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion.

Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross.

Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation.

Imitation of Christ. Book 2, Chapter 11.

Link: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kempis/imitation.TWO.11.html
--------

If I want to have a true relationship with Christ, I need to embrace all of Him, and not just the parts I like. I need to love Him as much when He sends me trials as when He sends me consolation. I need to love his Passion as much as I love his Resurrection. I need to love the suffering as much as I love the joy.

That's the only way through the narrow gate and down the constricted path.

2/8/11 - We Will Make Our Dwelling Within You

John 14:22-24

Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, (then) what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

------

This passage from the Upper Room discourse shows the characteristics of a "personal relationship" with Jesus. 

Even though I've read this passage probably 20 or more times over the last 10 years, I haven't actually understood what Jesus meant by "make our dwelling within him" until very recently.  For a long time I thought this was something that every Christian has, something that comes with the profession of belief in Jesus.

Jesus does NOT say that, however.  He says that "whoever loves me will keep my word ... and we will come to him and make our dwelling within him."  This is a conditional statement.  If I don't keep Christ's word, he and the Father do not come to dwell within. 

Jesus is talking about something greater than just knowing who He is, or knowing He is the Savior, or believing that He is MY Savior.  He's not just talking about receiving graces throughout your life.  He's talking about the type of relationship that He has with those who truly follow him.

He's talking about what the Church describes as "contemplative prayer".  Here's how the Catechism puts it:  ( CCC Sections 2712-2719 )

2712 Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more.⁸ But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son.

2713 Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts.⁹ Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, "to his likeness."

 
2714 Contemplative prayer is also the pre-eminently intense time of prayer. In it the Father strengthens our inner being with power through his Spirit "that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith" and we may be "grounded in love."¹⁰

2715 Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. "I look at him and he looks at me": this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the "interior knowledge of our Lord," the more to love him and follow him.¹¹
 
2716 Contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God. Far from being passive, such attentiveness is the obedience of faith, the unconditional acceptance of a servant, and the loving commitment of a child. It participates in the "Yes" of the Son become servant and the Fiat of God's lowly handmaid.
 
2717 Contemplative prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come"¹² or "silent love."¹³ Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the "outer" man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.
 
2718 Contemplative prayer is a union with the prayer of Christ insofar as it makes us participate in his mystery. The mystery of Christ is celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit makes it come alive in contemplative prayer so that our charity will manifest it in our acts.
 
2719 Contemplative prayer is a communion of love bearing Life for the multitude, to the extent that it consents to abide in the night of faith. The Paschal night of the Resurrection passes through the night of the agony and the tomb - the three intense moments of the Hour of Jesus which his Spirit (and not "the flesh [which] is weak") brings to life in prayer. We must be willing to "keep watch with [him] one hour."¹⁴

(Catechism references)

8 Cf. Lk 7:36-50; 19:1-10.
9 Cf. Jer 31:33.
10 Eph 3:16-17.
11 Cf. St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 104.
12 Cf. St. Isaac of Nineveh, Tract. myst. 66.
13 St. John of the Cross, Maxims and Counsels, 53 in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanaugh, OCD, and O. Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979), 678.
14 Cf. Mt 26:40.

2/3/11 - His Power Is Inside Me

Mark 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

-------

I'd love to have witnessed what the Twelve were able to do when Christ sent them out. Can you imagine being given the power to heal the sick? How about power over demons? I can only imagine how it would feel to be just handed a gift with that kind of power.

Oh wait ... I have been.  The power is a "He", and He lives inside of me.    :)

2/2/11 - No Slave Is Greater Than His Master

John 13:15-17

I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
----

These two verses pack a lot of punch.  This occurs in the upper room, immediately after Jesus washes the disciples' feet.

Christ says that he has given a model for the disciples to follow.  How does one follow Christ's model?  I'm not called to the priesthood like they were, but what can I take away from this and apply to my life today?

Here's how I see it.  Christ humbled himself.  He suffered, to the point of death.  He didn't complain.  He may well have wished that he could "pass the cup,"  but he drank the cup and he didn't gripe about it.

I am a slave, and I am not greater than Him, so I should strive to follow that model.  I should strive to follow it with my boss, my co-workers, my clients, my wife, my children, and they guy who's car is stuck in the snow.  Christ has given us a divine call to serve.

It is easy to for me to think that I can't live that way.  It's impossible.  He's perfect, I'm not.  No matter what I do, I will always fall short.  I really used to believe that.  I now understand that those thoughts come from the Satan -- the Father of Lies.

Remember ... with Christ ALL things are possible.  We have Him at our disposal.  If we desire to conform to His will, and ask Him for help, he WILL help us.  That is His promise to us.  This is what he meant when He told us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. 

The world is filled with people who have walked this way.  In the Catholic Church, we call them Saints.  We know how they lived their lives.  They have shown us what is possible when you conform to God's will.  They understood and followed, and were blessed.  We celebrate their lives and read their histories, because they stand as testimony that "mere men" can, have, and will continue to walk Christ's path. 

That path is open to each and every one of us!  The gate is narrow and the way is constricted, but it is open, and if we submit to Christ, He will guide us. 

2/1/11 - How Do You Treat Jesus?

John 12:1-3

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

---------

I read these verses over the weekend and was struck by the reverence with which Mary treated Christ. That makes sense, of course.  Not long before, Jesus had raised her bother from the dead.  Of course she would treat him with reverence.  She'd do anything for him.  She dried his feet WITH HER HAIR!

Imagine that someone saves your life -- it doesn't matter what the scenario is.  Just that you certainly would have died.  A person, purely out of LOVE for you (and not obligation, or luck) uses all the skill he can to save you, at great cost to himself.  Some great cost that you can see, like disfigurement, or losing a limb.

You see that person frequently for the rest of your life.  Maybe even daily.

Would you love that person in return?  How would you treat that person when you saw him?  Would you ignore him?  Would you say hello and go on your way?  Would you choose to spend time with that person?  Would you include him in your life? 

Jesus is that person.  How do you treat Him?