What does it mean to live for
Christ? What does it mean when Paul tells us it is no longer he who lives but
Christ who lives in him?
In Paul’s time it was believed that
the only way to have a right relationship with God was to follow the law, the
Ten Commandments and all the thousands of rules that derive from them.
But Paul rejected this idea and
preached that the only road to justification, to having that right relationship
with God, is through faith in Jesus Christ.
It is not enough to simply “follow
the rules” and stay out of trouble. If that is all we do then we are trying to
achieve heaven by our own merits. God wants more from us than that.
God invites us into a relationship
of friends and family, a relationship of love. This type of relationship is a
living, dynamic one. To love Christ and to want to be near Him is to be
crucified with Him.
It means standing up for the Truth
even when it is unpopular. It means finding time to pray. It means that we stay
faithful to the teachings of Jesus. And it means that when we fail, we humbly
confess our sins as we would apologize to a friend we have hurt, so that that
relationship can be restored.
It means that we must reflect
Christ to the whole world, so that when people look at us they do not see us,
they see Christ.
Pax Vobiscum
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
No comments:
Post a Comment