16 October 2015 - more than many sparrows

The 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart

A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due.
But when one does not work,
yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is credited as righteousness.

Forgiveness is a gift of God. Blessed are we whose iniquities are forgiven. Are sins are covered. But they are not merely covered. We are transformed and made clean within. Otherwise we're like the Pharisees. Otherwise we are hypocrites, saying one thing, but with something quite different in our hearts. We want the sort of consistency where we can be happy to proclaim from the housetops those things which we hear in the darkness, those things which are in the depths of our hearts, those things which are the core of who we are.

The Pharisees are highly invested in their cover stories. So much of their identity rests on their image as Godly people. For them this becomes a vicious cycle where the invest more and more effort into the things the world sees while their hearts languish. God isn't interested in facilitating their self-image so they work toward this goal without the divine power that could actually change them from within. This must not be our approach. Instead, we allow God to change us from within as a gift that we receive by faith. We receive justification in the same way as Abraham.

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Because every part of this transformation is a gift we don't have to be afraid. The world can't facilitate it. But the world can't stop it, either.

Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?
Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.
Even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
Do not be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows.

So, yes, if we try to do this by our own strength we do need to fear the one who has the power to cast into Gehenna. But if we believe we not only receive forgiveness but also transformation and the peace that comes from being free from fear. No longer weighted down by the things of this world we are free to praise God with sincere hearts.

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you just;
exult, all you upright of heart.