The Gospel Centered Life

"But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." (Ephesians 4:15)
Here's the simple message from Paul, this time, which calls us to love.  The only way we can grow into Christ is through love.  It's simple because the only way we learn anything is through careful practice.  As a musician, I feel like I know this all too well.  For starters, one must practice so much to be good. However, mindlessly spending hours on things only makes a habit, as opposed to perfection.  My teacher always says that I must focus whenever I practice.  Therefore, playing through the things I'm good at only reinforces the things I'm good at, and, consequently, makes everything else glaringly bad.  However, when I focus on a certain issue for a given amount of time, I make my playing all the better.  In the same way, the only way we can make our lives closer to the Gospel is by living in love.  However, we cannot just practice loving those we already love or those who already love us back.  We must practice loving those who may not be easy to love.  We must love those who have hurt us.  We must love those who preach against us.  We must love those who don't understand us.  By practicing what Jesus already did and what God teaches us daily, we will live a truly gospel centered life.

United We Stand

"Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house." (Luke 11:17)
This is a universal ideal that we need to embrace.  When we divide ourselves against each other, we become weaker.  Indeed, we still bear our family names.  When we say certain people of the LGBT community are not for us, we make ourselves smaller, weaker, more vulnerable.  We need to unite with one another.  We need to accept the diversity of our family.  We need to accept each other's personality.  We need to unite in the love of God.  God will deliver us. We need to be ready for God's coming.

Love

In today's gospel, Jesus tells us the main message: love God and love your neighbors.  However, despite the fact that this is a reiteration of levitical law, Jesus adds one more statement: upon these hang all of the laws.  God's law is a law of love.  Anything that gets in the way of our loving relationship with God is sin.  Anything that gets in the way of our love for our neighbors is sin.  When we welcome our friends, strangers, and enemies, we are living for God.  When we devote ourselves entirely to God, we are indeed living for God.  When we take the position of God, we are separating ourselves from God.  When we start to punish others because of our own misunderstandings, we are no longer living for God.  Instead of pointing fingers, let us join hands, for we all live under the grace of God, and we live to praise God: our creator, our redeemer, our sustainer.

Asking

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give tho Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13)
This comes at the end of one of my favorite passages.  Jesus tells us to be direct: ask and you shall receive.  There are no ceremonies or rituals that we need to do.  We just need to ask.  We need to establish a connection between God and ourselves.  How do we get friends? Do we not communicate.  Do we not start with a simple, "what is your name" or, "how are you?" We need to ask of God, for God has so much in store for us.  God asks us if we are ready.  All we need to ask is, "What do You need of me?" With God's reply, we will get our mission, our talent, our ministry, and the means by which we can accomplish our mission.

Pure Devotion

Today's gospel is about Martha and Mary and what Jesus cares about.  It tells of Martha becoming so obsessed with cleaning that she forgets that Jesus is already there with them.  I really enjoy this story because it puts a great issue into perspective: ceremony.  Sometimes we would prefer for there to be pictures of thousands of saints in our bedrooms.  Sometimes we would prefer to have a grand altar with incenses and candles and books all around.  Yet, at the end of the day, the only thing God asks for is our heart.  God asks for our devotion.  The pictures and candles and incense can be helpful for our devotion, but if our belief becomes the candle, then we need to take a step back and reevaluate our devotion to God.

Words

"For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." (Matthew 10:20)
This reminds me of a popular movie technique where, well into the movie, a distraught person will have a monologue, and as soon as she's into her speech, the voice changes to her mentor from a much earlier part of the movie.  It also reminds me of how, after watching a series so much, one can quote many parts during everyday conversations at very apt times.  That is what we need to be doing as Christians.  When we live and breathe the Word of God, and when we accept the Holy Spirit, we will not be lost for words.  In another event in Jesus' life, the devil tempts Him with Bible verses, but Jesus knew the word so well that He was able to give the correct answers to every temptation.  In the same way, when people who are outspoken with just one measly verse of the Bible confront us, we must be armed with the Word of Truth.  The only solution for all of our situations is the Holy Word and the Word Incarnate, who is Jesus Christ.

Naïveté

"I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will." (Luke 10:21)
This is an interesting passage because it sounds a little contradictory: wouldn't the wise and intelligent be able to preach better than infants?  However, as in most of the gospel, Jesus has a hard time preaching to the Jews and an easier time preaching to the gentiles.  And, so, I like to see Jesus telling us that we need to receive the gospel without our preconceived notions and judgments.  We need to receive the good news without saying, "his family did that," or, "she is such a person of that kind."  No, Jesus wants us to love as children love: always in search of new friends, and never judging.