By Brian Cook
The small children of a friend of mine were arguing when the younger exclaimed, “she doesn’t love me!” My friend wisely responded, “buddy, she loves you, she just loves herself more right now.” Wow…. sounds like my relationship with Christ for most of my life. I’ve loved Jesus deeply since I was eight years old, but I’ve often loved me more. Very often.
What is the process for growing in holiness and devotion to Christ?
As we inch closer to Christ, there are many challenges along the way. Eventually the niceties and newness of faith fade into the difficulty of obedience. We hit the wall. Those fateful moments when we face the ultimate decision. Is it Him, or me? Before we hit the wall we were enamored with the glory of Christ, the beauty of His Church, the mysteries of His Word, the joy of forgiveness and the welling up of hope. We are all wrapped up in the benefits of Christianity (Psalm 103:2). But the fateful day finally comes…. Jesus commands something that we think is undesirable. Maybe it is when Jesus calls us to refuse something that we love dearly. Or maybe it’s when Jesus gives a command that seems impossible, and we seek to “water it down”. Maybe we have a neighbor we refuse to love as our equal. Or God unearths our pet “god” (lust, geed, power) and forces a decision. However the day comes, we “feel stuck between a rock and a hard place” and feel the weight of 1 Peter 2:8 realizing that Jesus Christ, the immovable one, is the “stone of stumbling and the rock of offense”. It’s Him or me, and He forces the question, “Who is my God, really?”
There is a simple, but very hard practice of the Faith that gets to the very crux of the solution. But first let’s define terms. “Simple” and “easy” are not the same. “Simple” is the opposite of “complex”, “easy” is the opposite of “difficult” or “hard”. Following Christ is very simple, but extremely difficult. And as I’ve said many times before, “everything in life that is good is hard”. So, as is His manner often, Jesus gives us a command that is the key to simplifying a very complex life.
Matthew 5:37: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one”. In this “simple” command, we are called to choose. It echoes “Choose this day who you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Will I say “Yes” to God and “No” to myself when my will and His will are in conflict? Will I say “Yes” to holiness and “No” to sin when temptation comes my way? Will I say “Yes” to greed and “No” to giving, or vice versa? Will I say “Yes” to love and “No” to lust? Can I?
And even deeper within all these decisions, will I say a wholehearted “YES!” and “NO!”, or will I be lukewarm? Will I obey Christ out of love for Him or fear of being found out a hypocrite? Will I reject sin for love of Christ or out of fear of being caught? And so, we are back to “the wall”, the immovable demand for obedience and holiness. This is where we squirm or where we surrender. But it’s so hard! Yes, so simple, and yet so hard. Everything in life that is good is hard.
Who will help us meet this command with all our heart?
Thanks be to God for His grace working through the Practices and Sacraments of the Church to purify our hearts to be able to say, like our Blessed Mother, a full “YES!” to God. And for the grace of Confession when we can’t, won’t, or don’t.
So, to all believers, who like Peter and I, can honestly say “Master, you know that I love you” soon after denying Him three times, today (Hebrews 3:13), on Ash Wednesday, “repent and believe the gospel”. Set back out, beloved, to love and serve Him. He makes his mercy new every day. Love yourself and others properly, by loving Him more.
