Reflection

Happy Sunday everybody!! I hope everybody's weekends were lovely. I haven't posted in a while and I apologize for that, but I've been so busy with school & other things that I've been trying to take every chance I get to just sit and meditate and talk to God. All the things around me have been so overwhelming and all that's been giving me strength is to stop what I'm doing & read some scripture and have long prayers with God. I haven't really been in a state to post & teach, but more to reflect on myself and on who God really is. In this time I've learned some convicting things & would like to share with you guys!

There are typically three different ways that people react to the fact that Jesus died to make all our sins unpunished & that as long as we believe in Him in our hearts and say it with our mouths, we get to spend eternity in Heaven. Some feel that this unconditional love means that they can just go out and sin as much as they please because it won't affect whether they're accepted into heaven or whether God loves them. Others believe that since God loves everybody, they must constantly do good deeds to get His attention and to feel His love. These people end up seeking perfection more than they seek a real relationship with Jesus. While certain people have live their whole life in one of those two ways, most other people still have both of those characteristics in them. The third reaction to God's unconditional love is the one we should all strive to have. We are to realize that nothing on this earth compares to God's grace & mercy. We are to fall in love with who He is and desire to do only His will for us.

I'd like to sit here and tell you that my reaction is the third one 100% of the time and that my motives in doing good deeds are always to follow God & show my love for Him. I realized that I recently reached a state of contentment for the past week or so and haven't been fully striving to follow God. These things are all true about myself:

• I am totally in love with God.
• I desire to use the talents and opportunities He gives me to fulfill His purpose for me in my time on earth
• I  want to fully devote every aspect of my life completely to Him
• I never want to stop growing closer to Him and discovering more about Him.

But do I act like this 100% of the time? No. Do I slip away and grow weary sometimes? Yes. At some points in my life, I've had the mindset of "oh I'll just go and do this sin because I like it and I'll ask for forgiveness later; God will still love me. I'm young and everyone around me is doing it!" This is an evil little thought that the Devil slipped into my head to keep me from whole-heartedly following God. Yes, He will still love me no matter what but shouldn't a beautiful love like that be honored? To go and sin just because you can is to take God's amazing love for granted and is an insult to the cross. At other times in my life I've gotten to the point where I do good deeds as a routine, but don't really invest in my relationship with Christ. I think that if I'm nice to people, go to church, refrain from gossiping, judging, envying, lying, etc., I'm doing a good enough job at following God. But that's not what it's all about. This is also a thought put into our head by the devil. He wants us to be content with our walk with God so we don't do the crazy, radical things that God calls us to do.  The enemy wants us to think that simply doing good deeds is enough so we will hold back in totally investing in a relationship with God. The truth is that our number one priority should be our relationship with Christ and the rest will fall into place. When we devote our whole heart to God and have a deep, strong, passionate relationship with Him, it will result in a desire to do good works and to love others and to serve and to honor His word.  We shouldn't do good deeds to feel God's love, we should feel the power of God's love and desire to completely follow His word, because really that's the least we can do for Him compared to what He's done for us.

My challenge for you is to step back and reflect on how you react to God's unconditional love. Do you take it for granted? Do you seek perfection over seeking a relationship with Him? Do you generally appreciate His love and work at your relationship with Him, but have let the devil slip these other thoughts in your mind? Don't be discouraged with what you find, but rather recognize that He loves and forgives you and do everything you can to get back on the right track! None of us are perfect and it's important that we all step back sometimes and evaluate how we are living our life.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

A page from Francis Chan's Crazy Love



Have a blessed week!:) -Mary Catherine