When I first decided to embark on the journey of seeking Christ, I thought it was the end to all fun. I pictured a boring life and everything in the world as off limits. I thought I would be living a life ruled by guilt and shame. I was led to believe all the joy was to be sucked out of my life and led in a direction that I had no idea of the outcome. This is what the world tells us about Catholicism, right? This seems to be the underlying theme of today’s culture.
However, when we posture our hearts towards the Lord and make Him the focal point of our lives, all of those earthly things seem to move down the ranks of importance. Not to say our desires for those
earthly aspects immediately disappear, but there is a tugging on our hearts to follow Him. As long as we remain on this earth, we will always be tested with temptation and to stray from Christ.
“Deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily, and follow Him” (Luke 9:23). This verse may sound
intimidating to some of us at first. We may ask, “how could I possibly deny my own self”? We may question why God asks us to sacrifice our precious time here just to reject our own wills and desires. We all think we know what is best for ourselves and ourselves alone.
One way we can reframe and approach this would be to lay aside what we desire and take a moment to ask Jesus what He wants. We can seek out His will by asking Him to enter into our hearts and sitting with Him.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Christ longs for this deep communion with His people. We are asked to cast aside our earthly will and become one with His. “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The Lord’s love is truly extraordinary. His love extends to those who are actively in a state of sin. Christ’s love is not based on our worthiness, but his graciousness. His love does not have to be earned, but given freely to all His people. Christ’s death on the cross was not meant to be a response to our earthly actions, but to display his unconditional love He has for the human race. No matter what state you are in, God extends His love to you.
There truly is so much fulfillment walking on the path with Christ. There is a war for our souls and we must armor up with the blood of Jesus. “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11). For Christians, there truly is a war going on within us. In this verse, Peter highlights the meaning of life as a Christian. The word ‘sojourners’ meaning ‘strangers’ is meant to encourage us to notsee ourselves as ‘locals’, but see ourselves as people who are not from around here.
God has made substantial transformations in Christians, that what we are used here on earth to is no
longer. We may come to a point in our lives where we no longer fit in the world around us. Wemay view ourselves as the strangers that Peter is referring to. We are encouraged to not try to fit in this world, since our true home is home with Christ.
This is definitely easier said than done, considering humans have a natural inclination to sin, especially to those who are at ‘home’ here on earth. We have the ability to choose not to sin. We are encouraged, as Christians, to engage in this war and do not give in.
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are beingtempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-2).
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Author: Taylor Willis
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