23 October 2019 - from the heart

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

It isn't so much that Jesus is trying to catch us off guard. It is rather that our lives must be marked be a consistency. We need to be faithful whether or not we sense someone watching over our shoulder. That sort of extrinsic motivation isn't enough.

But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin,
you have become obedient from the heart
to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.

Obedience from the heart transcends the fear that only obeys when others are watching. It is a response of love to the love we are first shown.

but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life
and the parts of your bodies to God
as weapons for righteousness.

Because Jesus died for us, because he himself manifested obedience for us even when he felt utterly abandoned, he is able to share that obedience with us as a gift of his resurrection.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (see Colossians 3:3).

We are meant to be entirely different sorts of creatures, new creations in Christ, living the grace of obedience he gives us, which leads to righteousness. How much better this is than slaves that merely act out of fear! Our very hearts are new. Hear it again: "obedient from the heart". This is something that is quite foreign to the thinking of the world, where everything is about power and obedience only arises from fear.

We have been given new hearts that can, if we embrace the gift, allow us to obey with joy from our very cores. But to know this is not the same as to receive and embrace it. It is vital that we do both.

still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more

It seems that we are near the top of the list of people entrusted with more. How are we using it? Do we still only obey in fear when it seems like God is paying particularly close attention? Can we not rather strive to let the love he planted in our hearts manifest, making every effort to live for him in each and every moment of our lives? This is rhetorical. We can in fact do so. The grace is given. So let us receive it and live it.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.