There is a miracle we live with, that is a real mystery: The miracle of Christ living in us. This is a reality of God’s Kingdom in our midst. Jesus said: “those who truly love me will be loved by me and my Father; we will come and make our home in you.” The tough part to realize as the antithesis is that: God loves us but he does not force it onto us! We are the ones who choose to love him back by our actions because we cannot fake-love Jesus. When we truly love Jesus, he takes our mortality and turns it into life. In Jesus Christ, we are able to keep his words, and produce fruits worthy of repentance. When God is at the very center of our lives, and in charge, everything is possible. I see this picture in the book of Revelation where God Almighty and the lamb are the temple of the new Jerusalem and the tree of life continue to produce fruits on the edges of the river. What I saw in that picture, is a place of perfect love and undisturbed order of heaven, leading to the restoration of the garden of Eden and the healing of all that was broken by sin. But that’s not what we see here on earth, is it? We see in our imperfect world, God’s Kingdom waiting to be perfected like it is in heaven. We are not there yet, but Christians are the only chance humanity has, to see what God’s Kingdom look like because Christ lives in us: It’s a miracle.
Sometimes, we see evidences of God’s Kingdom amongst us. A week ago, I sat outside with 2 of my neighbors. They talked about how kind Fr Jeff is (they have known him for years). Fr Jeff had helped them in the distant past. We are to be that kind of example of godliness, love, kindness and generosity, even when the world around us is radiating the opposite. Don’t take revenge (the Bible says), rejoice rather, when hardships come your way, it is a chance for us to persecute our passions and egos as the saints did. One E.g. is in the book of Acts: The Holy Spirit was at the center of every activity that happened with the apostles. By prayers, teachings, visions, the work of God continued and Lydia and her household were baptized…I can’t help it but imagine the many miracles the Holy Spirit would do amongst us, if we truly chose consistently to love Jesus and one another every day!
God promised to make a home within us, when we genuinely express our love for Jesus in words and deeds. It’s a kind of real intimacy between us and God. Moses’ face was full of God’s glory after returning from meeting God. That love will require us to be self-emptying, and not self-serving! Unfortunately, when we choose the self-serving way, we lose the way of Christ. LORD HAVE MERCY! The way of Christ is the way of the Cross. We need to be taught what it truly means to choose loving Jesus! Yes, we are to love what pleases Him, and also, discern what is unclean in God’s eyes. Our God is a God of truth and the falsehoods in our world are not part of God’s design, they are from the father of lies, the evil one.
Falsehood can sneak upon us. Adam knew something about that. Everything was true until the serpent inserted a little falsehood that sounded like it was true. We ought to be careful in all that we do and deal with. Be sure of where you are headed, and who you are talking to (or traveling with), because the road that leads to Satan can appear to be brilliant and fair which makes the discernment tough. But Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit, the Advocate to teach us how to live in a healthy relationship with God our creator, and to remind us of all that Jesus taught us. Life was not easy for him either, yet he proceeded to send us His peace. He knew how troublesome the days ahead would be for his disciples. He wanted our hearts not to be afraid or troubled in the midst of it all, especially when we are lost in battles none else can see, because when the Father is at the center of our lives, none of these external troubles matter anymore. We are exactly where we should be by his design: loving Christ in all things and above all things!
If you haven’t already invited Christ to be at the center of everything you do in life, this is one good opportunity to do so. Assist us with thy grace & mercy O Lord!
Amen.
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