It often
isn’t easy to speak to friends or family firmly and with truth about my faith,
but it’s necessary. Saint Paul tells us,
“From
now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed
for his appearance” [2
Timothy 4:8]. I need to remember this the next time I'm a little uncomfortable
talking to someone about my faith- in the end, it’s all worth it.
There’s a line
in Psalm 84 about the fidelity to God and God’s promise of love: “Blessed
are those who dwell in your house! They
never cease to praise you.” [Psalms 84:5] Elsewhere in the Bible, Solomon prayed for that gift of
fidelity and that God would recognize his faithfulness and that of his people. He was well aware of their infidelities [1
Kings 8:22-30].
In Mark’s
Gospel, the Pharisees didn’t seem to be aware of their infidelities. In fact, they only praised themselves and
their adherence to law and tradition. They
criticized Jesus’ disciples for having “unclean practices.” [Mark 7:1-13]
All of this
leads me to ponder, “what makes a person unclean today?” If our faith rests in God’s promises: “I
am with you always” [Matthew
28:20] “In cloud by day and fire by night” [Exodus 13:21] “I
love you with an everlasting love. I
will always love you”
[Jeremiah 31:3], then not believing in God’s love for us makes us unclean.
If we’re
truthful with ourselves, there are so many times we don’t believe: moments of
crisis, moments of joy, moments of control (‘I can or did or will do this
myself’). Sometimes we don’t trust God
enough and sometimes we trust ourselves too much.
Jesus tells
us to “be compassionate as your heavenly Father is
compassionate.” [Luke
6:36-38] And, “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Mark 12:31] is one of Jesus’ laws
of love. When do we take care of others
and not ourselves? Now, there’s a real
juxtaposition of “what is selfishness?” When
do we not love ourselves and why? And when do we turn away from our neighbor
because we just don’t like him or her (or their opinions and beliefs)?
All of this
pondering of our unclean times isn’t meant to dwell on our weaknesses. God knows me and you through and through and
loves us in our weakness as well as our strengths. Just be aware of hypocrisies, big and small
and turn around! Be mindful of the prophet
Jeremiah’s words: “Happy the men (and women) who trust in
YOU.” [Jeremiah
17:7-8]
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