13 September 2015 - anchored

What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works? 
Can that faith save him? 

It isn't enough to say with Peter, "You are the Christ." We are not called to a mere acknowledgment of who Jesus is. We are called to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow him. When Jesus begins to teach us about suffering, rejection, and the cross, do we rebuke him as Peter does? Do we hear him say, "Get behind me, Satan" because we are unwilling to embrace the cross?

We need a faith which goes deeper than mere acknowledgement. We need a faith that gives rise to hope. The hope must of necessity be beyond this age and this mortal life. It is "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (cf. Heb. 6:19) that allows us to persevere in spite of difficulties. It gives us the strength to say:

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

This hope is how Jesus endured the cross "for the joy that was set before him" (cf. Heb. 12:2). For us to, it is meant to culminate in the love by which we can give our lives for Jesus and his kingdom. This is why these three things remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13).

Only if we know and believe that we will walk before the Lord in the land of the living can we really walk without stumbling in this life. This begins with faith. It begins by confessing with our lips that Jesus is LORD and believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead (cf. Rom. 10:9). But it can't just be that. It must demonstrate itself by the works of charity which are made possible by our hope in Jesus the Christ. 

We cannot do this by our own power. But we do not have to. Jesus reminds us that apart from him we can do nothing (cf. Joh. 15:5). He invites us to take upon ourselves his yoke, the yoke which is easy, the burden which is light, the yoke which he himself helps us to carry (cf. Mat. 11:28-29). When we do we can say with Paul "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Are we arguing with Jesus about his plans? Let us instead embrace them so that we too can discover the joy that is set before us.