And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they marveled at Him. Mark 12:17The Gospel prefaces this passage with the notion that the people asking Jesus were trying to test him. However, it seems that this situation applies to all of us.
We sometimes like to use God as our excuse to do anything we want. In fact, there are many who say that faith is a total departure from rationality. But, the bible is very clear that this is not the case. We can't just start putting all of our crazy ideas forth as ones inspired by God. We know who God is by history and by the bible. So why do we stray away in the first place?
I think the answer is in the reaction from the people who asked Jesus. They marveled. In the Gospels, people marvel only when something that goes completely against the grain happens. It's whenever they are overtaken by the grandeur of a situation. These scribes who asked Jesus were trying to make something marvelous happen. They wanted their ideas to be glorified and approved by Jesus.
I'm sure the same thing can be said about us. Many times, we stray from God and start to use God as our scapegoat when we want people to approve of our irrational ideas. Yet, just as in the above passage, in the end, God will come back with something that will leave us awestruck. These moments leave us even more dumbfounded because of the fact that they are moments where we have to humble ourselves and leave behind our own selfish ways to go back to God.
This Lent, take some time to pray and meditate about how you can go back to God. Make this Lent be a time for you to render your own thoughts to your own thoughts, but your soul to God.
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