However. As we heard in this Sunday's Gospel (Lk 22:36-38), Jesus often doesn't like being taken literally. Jesus is not talking about an academic truth, something we can run scientific studies to verify or search for clues via archaeological digs. Jesus reveals a need to know a deeper Truth, so deep we capitalize the T. It's a Truth that once we know, we a truly set free, no longer slave to sin. That Truth is Jesus, who later in the Gospel of John says "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6).
Through the grace and mercy of God in Jesus, sin cannot hold us back. We will sin, we all do. But we don't need to stop there. I like to think about conversion as cleaning a room. You can ignore the mess for an long time. You'll still know where everything is in your room, but there's trash on the ground and you have to walk around everything. Looking at that room just makes you feel bad. Once you decide to clean the room, you can either shove stuff in drawers, categorizing your mess by function, color, shape, or smell. Your other option is to actually clean, deciphering what should be properly put away where, clearing out the closet and drawers, and taking out the cleaning supplies and scrubbing.
Taking time to sit and sort through the mess that can be our souls and our consciences is a lifetime of work. It's never 100% clean. There are always new things to sift through and old things to throw out. This week, Holy Week, is a wonderful opportunity to do that sifting and sorting. It is when we actively allow God to work through us and change our hearts and minds that we find freedom, little by little. Rarely does a conversion happen overnight; rarely is freedom realized in an instant. But slowly, gradually, as we come to know the Truth, come to base our lives on that Truth, we come to know freedom, the authentic freedom that allows us to be true selves and to live out of the core of our being, from our heart.
----
Reflection Questions:
Where do you need to clean?
Is there a major item in your room that you need to throw out?
Are you free?
How is your relationship with Truth?
----
Jars of Clay - This Road
----
Blessings,
Isaac
Through the grace and mercy of God in Jesus, sin cannot hold us back. We will sin, we all do. But we don't need to stop there. I like to think about conversion as cleaning a room. You can ignore the mess for an long time. You'll still know where everything is in your room, but there's trash on the ground and you have to walk around everything. Looking at that room just makes you feel bad. Once you decide to clean the room, you can either shove stuff in drawers, categorizing your mess by function, color, shape, or smell. Your other option is to actually clean, deciphering what should be properly put away where, clearing out the closet and drawers, and taking out the cleaning supplies and scrubbing.
Taking time to sit and sort through the mess that can be our souls and our consciences is a lifetime of work. It's never 100% clean. There are always new things to sift through and old things to throw out. This week, Holy Week, is a wonderful opportunity to do that sifting and sorting. It is when we actively allow God to work through us and change our hearts and minds that we find freedom, little by little. Rarely does a conversion happen overnight; rarely is freedom realized in an instant. But slowly, gradually, as we come to know the Truth, come to base our lives on that Truth, we come to know freedom, the authentic freedom that allows us to be true selves and to live out of the core of our being, from our heart.
----
Reflection Questions:
Where do you need to clean?
Is there a major item in your room that you need to throw out?
Are you free?
How is your relationship with Truth?
----
Jars of Clay - This Road
----
Blessings,
Isaac
0 comments:
Post a Comment