We have a problem with humility, or rather the lack thereof. So many times, I hear from people who happen to have read a verse in the bible, usually without bothering to read the whole thing to put it in proper context, that God is simply not being fair. This usually relates to some action that the Lord took, often those in the Old Testament, and people who have never bothered to read much more than some isolated instance of the Lord’s judgement cry foul. The other example that I typically see is when there is a moral imperative that is part of our belief as Catholics, and people with a particular agenda that often deviates from that imperative call God, and us, intolerant, hateful, etc. The reality is a bit different. The Ten Commandments have been around and unchanged for several millennia; What has changed in that time (quite often in fact) is man. We claim to be a more tolerant society, one that is accepting of all. Not really. We are accepting of what is the popular social agenda of the moment, but we are wholly intolerant and unaccepting of those who adhere to a moral code that simply defines such behavior as sinful and wrong based on God’s teachings. The fact that we have an unwavering code of morals is like a red flag being waved in front of an angry bull. The shear venom that I see exuded from those who proclaim to be the most tolerant is amazing. If that is not enough, then insert general hysteria, foul language, and trying to label others with socially abhorrent labels that they have weaponized to silence those who have any opinion other than their own. This is the level that our society has frankly degraded to. It reminds me of the Baals in ancient Judea, who would use similar tactics to try to bully others into their way of thinking. The simple fact is, God is immutable, He is love, even when that love entails calling our behavior onto the carpet for our own good, and ultimately, our salvation. If He did not do this, He simply wouldn’t be God. We, on the other hand, need to rediscover our humility, and acknowledge that there is one far greater than we, instead of making vain attempts to change God to our liking or making ourselves out to be our own gods so that we can do whatever we want. When we develop our own spiritual belief systems, that is effectively what we are doing. We need to be better than this, MUCH better, and we need to make the effort to bring our brothers and sisters along with us by leading by example and holding to our values in our communications, the decisions we make, and what we reflect to others in our everyday lives.

It’s easy to take the path of least resistance, kind of like the son who told his father he would go out and work, but then did nothing. The other brother took the harder path. First of all, he initially stood up for what he wanted to do and was at least honest about it, but then relented and humbly performed the task that was asked of him. He did this silently, performing the will of his father. We need to perform the will of our Father, even if we do not initially relish the idea, and perhaps even protest a bit. We must be equally humble, and then equally resolved in our actions. This is what God seeks from us in our humility and our conduct. It is the harder path to be sure, but it is the one that leads through that narrower gate. I hope that we all make it through there.

PodCast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-h43hv-ed47d2

Each time I read the Gospel reading for today, my first thought is that it really does not seem fair that those fellows who worked the whole long day did not receive something more than those who worked only an hour. I guess that comes from knowing what it is like to work all day in a field, especially in the heat of the day. The afternoons and evenings are a joy compared to the noon day heat. Yet that is merely a human perception, and that limited perception is what really ties all our readings together today.

God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts and perspective are beyond anything we can conceive of. We have no common frame of reference, and that makes it all the more crucial for us to pay close attention to what He is saying, and take Him at his word, rather than trying to fit His meaning into our own idea of what is fair or proper. Once again, we really have it backwards in how we sometimes view things, especially when we encounter a scriptural passage we don’t understand at first. We are called to serve God, not judge His teachings. Yes, we are curious about Him, and yes, we are supposed to ask questions so that we can learn from Him, but we need to be careful that we do not cross over the line to passing judgment. That is simply not our place. How can finite creatures possibly judge the infinite?

Saint Paul’s perspective that to live is to do so to serve Christ is the one that we need to humbly observe. We are here for that very reason, and if we really think about it, to those who believe, the idea of leaving this earth and being with Christ is something to indeed look forward to. However, while we are here, it is our task in life to do all we can for our brothers and sisters to help bring them to God, by our example and our words, so that we show love for them, and in doing so, show love for the Father.

To come back to the Gospel, consider this: if we look at the narrative metaphorically, and the vineyard is our existence here on earth and the work that it entails, and the payment received at the end of the day is our heavenly reward, it all starts to make a bit more sense. You see, heaven, by its definition, is perfect union with God, you cannot receive more than that, no matter what you do, nor would you want to. So, whether we started our work sooner or later, the end reward makes it all worthwhile. Moreover, we know from scripture that there is more joy in heaven for one that changes their sinful ways, and comes to salvation in Christ, than for all those who are already on the right path. God is always looking for those lost sheep, even when they arrive late in the day to begin their work, and once on the right path, He will lead them to heaven right along with those who have been on that right path for a while. Why? Simply because He loves all of us and wants all of us to be with Him. This is especially true of those lost sheep. We should in fact all be grateful for that because we have all been lost at one time or another. Our God is the God of mercy and love, and that supersedes all else because there simply is nothing greater.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-fikk3-ec4654

There is nothing quite so poisonous to us both physically and spiritually as pent up anger and hate, and this is especially true when it is something we have harbored against others for a long time. To hold onto a grudge against someone, no matter how bad the transgression they committed, is to harm oneself, and to fail to show gratitude to the One who took upon himself all the suffering, humiliation, insults, and abuse that was rightfully ours to endure. You see, when we hold a grudge against our brother or sister, we are not only failing to love another child of God, we are failing to show proper love and respect for Him who gave himself up for us. If we look at it through the eyes of Christ’s suffering, our issues with others will be put into proper perspective. This is not to say we will not feel some hurt when we are transgressed against, but we must take that hurt and offer it up to the One who gave all for us, and then let it go. We must forgive, we must allow healing within ourselves, and we must be willing to allow our relationship with others to heal. As children of God, we are called to take the higher, more difficult path, but also the one that leads to salvation. It will not always be easy. It’s going to require effort, introspection, and especially prayer, but it is something that must be overcome with effort and with God’s grace, because if it is not, we cannot hope to enter His kingdom. There is absolutely no room in heaven for anger, hate, or selfish vengeance. There is only one who is worthy to judge, and He has told us that if we do not extend mercy and forgiveness toward others, we will not receive mercy ourselves. To be judged without God’s mercy is to invite certain destruction, because the fact is, we all fail, we all commit transgressions against others, and we all sin in this way. Sin is sin – another’s sins are no more heinous than our own. Even though the gravity of the act committed can be different, it is still unacceptable to God. God hates all sin. We cannot justify our grievances and failure to forgive by contrasting our sins with those of others; This is a sure path to failure because you are making yourself a judge, and the fact is, there is only one Judge.

We all, each of us, operate at a debt to God. One we cannot possibly repay. We are very much like the poor servant we heard about in the Gospel. We have no way to pay back our Master, so how can we then expect to receive some compensation from others as a condition of our forgiveness? We received our forgiveness without cost, for our multitude of sins, from the one who we hurt the most by our actions. Are we then to allow the offenses of others to keep us from following our Lord’s example? No matter what we tell ourselves about how we have been hurt by someone else, it pales in comparison with the abuse, rejection, pain, and loneliness that we subject our Lord to by our sins. This is what we must always keep in the front of our minds.

Each day is a new opportunity to extend forgiveness. We must not wait, because none of us knows how long we have, or whether or not there will be a tomorrow to offer us again the same opportunity. The time is now; There is no more time for waiting a little longer to get over it, or for our anger or resentment to cool. If we do this we are inviting upon ourselves the fallout of the missed opportunity of forgiveness and to be caught off-guard and to face the merciless judgement that we have then earned.

Today is Sunday, it is the Lords day, and I can think of no better day to stop and take the time to reach out to someone who we have unresolved issues with, to extend the peace of forgiveness, and to try to mend our relationship with that person. Even if they are not agreeable to this, we must try. Take the time today, allow your heart to open to anyone whom you hold resentment toward, and cut it loose, forgive, and then experience the peace from God that will come of that. We are sometimes masters of holding things in and harming ourselves in the process. Allow instead the healing from the Divine Physician to work in you and bring you healing as part of the fruits of the forgiveness that you have extended. Know the Lord’s peace.

PodCast Link Below

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-9hsn6-eb4dcb

I think it’s fair to say that Ezekiel had a lot on his mind after God explained to him the parameters of His expectations. As a prophet he was among a people with a long history of slaying prophets when they either did not like the message, or simply did not want to be reminded of it anymore. And yet, our Lord tells him that it is his responsibility to both spread His word to the people, and to try to turn them from evil, lest their sins cause his own destruction.

I hate to break it to everyone, but the expectations God has of us really are no different today than those he had for Ezekiel. Our audience is a bit different, but I don’t think that it would be out of line to say that they / we can be an equally stiff-necked people. The sins haven’t really changed, they are just as prolific, and just as destructive to the soul as anything that the Israelites might have weakened to – the idols that are worshipped, and some of the temptations and perversities have simply changed, others are as consistent as ever. The nature of man certainly has not changed, though we have now the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ, we are still saddled with the stain of original sin inclining us toward continued weakness and sinful behavior.

Our task now, as it was in the time of Ezekiel, and in the time of Saint Paul when he was trying to convert and cleanse the gentiles, is to love our fellow man enough to go to the trouble of enlightening and correcting those who are ignorant of Gods law, and the salvation that is possible through knowledge of Him, and belief in Him. The trick of course, now as it was in times past, is to get people to listen to, and accept the word of God. If people truly understand and believe in God’s word, the rest will of the tasks in terms of changing errant behaviors will come in due course. Not that they will be perfect, just as none of us is, but the effort will be there and the path toward salvation will have begun to be trodden by those we have successfully brought to a new belief. The reward and the penalty for either having done this, or not, is also the same. God will hold us accountable – each of us, as to whether we have taken the time and loved those around us enough to have been part of effecting the change of heart within them that could lead to salvation. The question is, do we love enough to do this?

PodCast Link below

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-fkspj-ea57e2

I would imagine Peter was a little shocked when Jesus referred to him as Satan and told him to get behind Him. That’s a pretty strong rebuke, especially from someone that you love so greatly. Yet it paints the picture of what each of us has to decide, and endure, if we are to enter the kingdom of God. Our earthly affections, and the close relationships we form, must come secondary to our relationship with Jesus, and our devotion to following the path that he has chosen for each of us.

It’s not enough to develop and value relationships where we feel close to others; True, we are called to love one another, but we are even more urgently called to love God who created all. It probably seemed very natural to Peter to try to be so protective of his teacher. He undoubtedly thought he was showing proper affection and loyalty, yet he lost sight of Jesus’ purpose here on earth because his perception was clouded by human emotion. It’s easy to do; We naturally find it easier to display affection and love toward those who are most familiar to us, and often lose sight of doing what is really good for them in the form of correcting them if needed. The thing is, we are called to do just that – to do what is really in their best interest, even if it might sting a bit in the short term. We are also called to love those we don’t know, simply because they too are children of God, and we must care for them equally. However, beyond all this, we are called to love God first and foremost. If we sometimes feel like He is distant and we don’t feel a closeness to Him, we should be asking ourselves why that is. Is it a spiritual dry spell, which does happen sometimes, or is it because we have not pursued His word in reading scripture? Excluding the case of a spiritual dry period which may be used to spiritually strengthen us at times, we should in fact be familiar enough with Him through our reading of His word to feel very close indeed if we are holding up our end of things. We should know enough about Him, and what He sacrificed to save each one of us, to feel a very keen closeness and gratitude. Yet, sometimes this can still seem elusive. Have you ever read a book that really resonated with you, and you found yourself caught up in one of the characters to the point where you felt a closeness to them? The Bible is not so different. There are probably many people in the bible that we can relate to quite intimately. Personally, I find myself very keenly able to relate to both the prodigal son, and to Zacchaeus the tax collector. It’s only through God’s grace that I turned my life around and found him and came back humbly only to be embraced lovingly and granted far more graces than I deserve. Moreover, I’d gladly climb any tree just for a chance to see our Lord a bit better. Each of these instances resonates with me, but what resonates most, the more I read and become familiar with Gods word (which is a never ending process, by the way), the more I can move past the others in the bible, and feel a direct closeness and familiarity with our Lord. He is my master, my teacher, My God, and the object of my affection. My perspective on Him has changed much over the years the more I have gotten to know Him by studying His word. I know with certainty that He has no limits, and that nothing I ask of Him is impossible. I know that there are no boundaries in how I can pray to Him. He knows and understand all, and there are certainly no secrets. All the veneer of what I used to think of as “propriety” in prayer is gone, there can only be room for direct honesty. I don’t know that I am always taking the right direction in how I interpret His will, I only know that I need to pursue it as best I can. Each of us has a unique plan that has been laid out for us, each of us is called to pursue it differently, but we are all definitely called to pursue it passionately. There can be no objects allowed in our way with this pursuit. We cannot allow the multitude of distractions that vie for our time to derail our efforts. Sometimes this can even mean a little pushback toward those that are close to us, but gently. We must feel free to explain that we need time for God, and to pursue Him. We need to be comfortable enough with our faith that we are never embarrassed to tell others of this need, no matter where they may be at in their own journey of faith. If nothing else, we are making a righteous request of them to respect our needs, and perhaps we may even be laying the groundwork for their own perspective to change a bit when they see that it is important to us to spend our time with God, and make no apology for it. These priorities mean placing others and ourselves well behind our focus on our Lord. When we learn as we go, we may find that we are called to leave our comfort zones as part of His call and His plans for us. We need to trust Him, and to take up our own crosses that we are called to bear, and to follow. The weight of the cross that He bore for us in the wounded and pain filled state of our Lord’s walk through Jerusalem toward His crucifixion should always be in our minds when we feel challenged. He endured all for us and asks in return for our love and closeness, even when this entails suffering; Yet we should know that He has gone through any trials ahead of us. We’re never alone, or without His understanding, and He will help us along. That is what Love does.

PodCast Link below:

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-bcbpr-e960b1

It was the ultimate question at that time – Jesus asks, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”. Peter did not hesitate, he answered from his heart, not his head, and affirmed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. This is I believe, what our Lord is looking for. The ability to leave out all the other noise from our thoughts, doubts, ponderances, etc. and instead take from the heart the answer that resides there and is beyond our human intellectualizing. To trust, to allow God to work within us and through us without letting our doubts, fears, and indecisive thoughts get in the way. This is why Peter was chosen as the foundation for the Church. Don’t misunderstand me, this is not the same thing as blindly following, this is instead following the call at the level of the heart, at the level of our spirit being directed by the Holy Spirit. The difference is huge.

As Catholics, we have the entire history of Jesus’ Church to draw upon, from the earliest discerned ideas and theologies from the Church Fathers, to the most recent guidance from our Pope who is Peters successor. We have never been called to blindly follow, as God who created us knows well our need for understanding. He created us to be curious, and to seek answers, and to think. Yet He also gave us His Spirit to reside within us, and to be a voice that will guide us to Him if we listen. It’s the listening part that can be difficult for us, as there is so much that can get in the way. The enemy clouds our thoughts with doubt and fear at every opportunity, his techniques ranging from preying upon our internal fears, to using stoking them or creating new ones using all the superabundance of information we are pelted with daily. There are also our fellow men and women who have strayed from truth, and who have their own agenda’s push, and will use any means they can find to do so. All of this, requires us to make a choice, to either play into all these negative influences, or to make the same leap that Peter did, and accept that with that the peace that comes from knowing and trusting in our Lord and God who can do all things and loves us without limit.

When Peter made his proclamation about who Jesus is, he turned a corner for all of us. His profession laid the foundation for the Church on earth to be built upon, and it gave us as humans the example of how we can each react to our Lord each time we are faced with the question of whether or not we believe, and if we will follow Jesus. To follow Him means to ultimately deny our own wants and needs, and to push past these to what we know to be what He would want us to do. To listen to Him because we too, know who he is, and to proclaim this through our actions and words. To stop when we see someone in need and take the time to give whether it is convenient or not. To not be afraid to show caring to others whom we may not know, and who perhaps may not be someone we would normally associate with. To proclaim truth regardless of how others may react. There are many ways to follow this subtle communication that comes to us from the Spirit of God. It is ultimately the question of belief in their source being God, that will give us the strength to carry through and act upon that quiet voice. It is the leap that Peter made, and the same proclamation to be made through our actions. It transcends our politics, our personal standards, sometimes even the lessons we have learned in life – yet it is still the truth and what we must ultimately listen to, to really be His followers. It is the continued building of the Church by being one of the living stones that comprise its structure by leaving self, and becoming part of it. What Peter began as the foundation, we continue to build to this day, with the certain hope that one day, when Jesus comes He will take his place as the capstone of this structure and complete all that has been done.

Podcast Link is below.

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-ksavk-e84b43

God loves all His creations, and it has always been His plan to bring salvation to all peoples. His requirement for this is simply the love of Him and one another, and the keeping of His laws that He has always instructed. His chosen people Israel were not the only ones He had in mind to save. Salvation did come from Israel through Jesus, but the acceptability of all peoples also came through Him. Jesus fulfilled prophecy, in that He came to the people of Israel first, and it was they to whom He brought His word,  His signs and His sacrifice. However, even during this, He did not turn others who were acceptable to Him through faith away.

The prophet Isaiah foretells clearly that all peoples who obey the Lord will be found acceptable to Him. Those who love Him and demonstrate this by keeping His law would find favor with Him. It is really no different today, God accepts all who love Him and keep his commandments. He is merciful to all who do this and will judge each one of us on how we have used our individual gifts. To those with a very full knowledge of Him, more will be expected. To those who through no fault of their own, He is not completely known, but they have tried to live their lives according to the natural order, He will be judge accordingly. He does not turn away those who seek an understanding of Him.

I am always humbled by the account of the conversation that Jesus has with the Canaanite woman. All her life she has been instructed in teachings contrary to God, and yet when she sees Jesus, she simply knows that He is the one. He is the only one who can bring healing to her daughter. She pleads with Jesus for His healing touch, and yet at first she is ignored. Yet despite this, she persists, and eventually when recognized by our Lord, makes the humblest of professions. Our Lord did not make her ask of Him more difficult because of a lack of compassion, rather it was to demonstrate two things. His adherence to prophecy, that He came to the children of Israel first, and to show to others her acceptance because of her unwavering faith. She is an example to all of us. No matter our position in life, no matter what we have believed or done, if we come to the Lord in humility and faith, we are acceptable to Him.

So often I hear it said by someone that there is no way they could have a relationship with Christ after all the things they have done. Yet this is so far from true. While it may be hard for us to grasp the kind of limitless forgiveness that our Lord possesses, it is real, nonetheless. All we need do is ask of Him his forgiveness, and show our change of heart through our actions, and He will find us acceptable. He loves each and every one of us, and wants all of us to come to Him, even in our most ragged state, and have that change of heart. We are a people with hope because of this, and with that hope, we should also be a people of joyful sharing. Each day is an opportunity to show others what is possible through our faith, and to leave them in a better place than when we first encountered them.

 

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Every time I hear today’s gospel message it resonates with me deeply. I can see myself, like Peter, being the one to start out boldly, and to trust in our Lord, only to have some fear derail my faith and begin to sink. How often this seems to happen in life. We start out with the best of intentions, and when some trial or trouble finds us, our first reaction is fear, and in that fear, we tend to forget to pray and to trust. Our first instinct is often to try to go it alone and deal with whatever trouble comes our way until we see that we are out of our depth and are beginning to sink; then we reach out to God. The question is, why isn’t asking God’s help our first inclination? Each of us has dealt with enough of life’s struggles, you’d think we would have this down pat by now. Not so. Make no mistake where the influence that often messes us up comes from. There is someone who absolutely does not want us to have reaching out to God as our first reaction. The enemy would much rather have us try to handle things on our own because he knows we will often fail, and be sunk into anxiety and fear, which are fertile ground for him to do his work. He can sow seeds of doubt and despair and leave us in a state that leaves us far from the reliance on God that should be our normal state, one that would leave us at peace and close to our Lord.

You see we are actually made to be closely and intimately in touch with our Lord in everything we do. That is happiness and security, and our surest path to peace in our lives. We are simply not made to go it alone, though that is our option if we are foolish enough to do so. God is not, and never has been, a puppeteer. He does not pull our strings, He instead gives us control so that we can learn and grow, and hopefully come to freely love and trust Him. It is a choice though, and one that does not always come to us with the answer being easily recognized, which is part of the residual effect from “the fall” that our original parents triggered. Yet even in that, there is great hope, because there is a new Adam (Jesus) and a new Eve (Mary) who have repaired and perfected what our original parents could not – our loving relationship with our Lord and the hope of spending eternity with Him.

I think that perhaps we sometimes forget that our place in heaven and our perfect intimacy with our God have already been purchased for us at a great price – the blood of His Son. This freely given gift is all the more reason for us to train ourselves to look to Him first in everything, in the good times and when trouble comes, and to trust Him. He should be part of our lives in everything. He is indeed that whisper that comes to us so often if we are attuned to hear Him. He is God, He has no need for grand displays. He is indeed not the fire, the wind, or the earthquakes. He is instead the subtlest of voices in our mind and heart that leads us and comforts us if we will let Him. The power comes from His message, not the display. I think that sometimes we forget that while we are sometimes impressed by such grandiose displays, they mean nothing to the God who created the cosmos, and who wields power on a scale that we cannot even comprehend. To use anything other than the subtlest of voices for such a God would be to intimidate such lowly creatures as ourselves, and that is not His way. Love speaks softly, and God is love; all we need do is listen.

 

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Saint Paul asks us today one of the most important questions we can contemplate – what will separate us from the love of Christ? Is it persecution, or perhaps plague (or pandemic), or peril, or war? Or is it simply our own lack of understanding, and the willingness to believe? We have a difficult time processing God, and who He really is, and what He is capable of – and longs to do for us. We seem to put up our own barriers and limit our perception of His power. To be sure, this is in part due to our fallen nature. We still have the remnants of that sin, that I think makes it very difficult for us to endure someone so loving and brilliantly illuminated. We don’t seem to be able to take Him in without effort. It’s like a small child trying to comprehend an adult conversation, as much as they would like to be able to know what is being spoken of, they find it hard to take in, and it leads to frustration and eventually perhaps a giving up of their efforts. I think that we experience this sometimes when we try to take in our Lord for who He really is.

When Jesus came to us in human form, to show us a level of intimacy that had never before been experienced between us and our Lord, except perhaps in the days in the garden before the fall, we didn’t know how to handle that either. Even though He came to us in the humblest of forms, in an effort to try to teach us at a level that we could better grasp, we still couldn’t handle it. His message was absolute truth, and the illumination of that truth was more than many could allow continuing, because of the darkness within. Our Lord came to us to teach, to heal, and to feed us. He did so many times when providing sustenance for those who came to hear His word. He multiplied the loaves and the fish because He knew our needs – all of them. He healed our infirmities because He knew the suffering that was being endured, and He holds for us a love and compassion that is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. He gave us his very flesh and blood as our spiritual food to allow us to have life within us, by His own sacrifice. This seemingly humble form, who came to us as the suffering servant, is absolutely the same God who created the very fabric of space, time, and matter that surrounds us and is our physical reality – our universe. He could have done all that desired to accomplish without so much as the blink of an eye, and never suffered, never come to us in such a humble form and endure all the banality of our day to day existence. Yet He chose to do this because He loves us so much, and wants our love in return – true love, not influenced or manipulated, but the love that can only come from the free choice to do so. Our God, who is so powerful we can scarcely begin to comprehend His nature, is also a God so full of love for us that He would rather endure and suffer than lose the opportunity to have us love Him in return. He would rather patiently wait for us to learn His lessons, and then willingly seek Him, than to shape our love and emotions on his own. He is truly a father in the deepest sense of the word.

Our struggle will always be to try to comprehend such a love. We will have doubts of our own fabrication, and we will struggle with what I call the “it’s too good to be true” syndrome. Yet the reality is this: that He is that loving, that powerful, that truthful, and that enamored of us, that He will always be there for us, no matter the rejections, the ignoring, or the indifference that we show at times. He will care for us, and guide us, and be ready to welcome us in His embrace. We need to simply return that love, and all of this can be ours – believe it. We do not hold all the answers – I would think that is pretty plain, especially in times like these. Why would we think that we are capable of defining God in order to make ourselves comfortable enough to accept Him? If we were able to do so, He would hardly be the awesome God that He is. We must instead be willing to accept Him on His terms, make the leap, and let Him show us what our relationship can truly be. He has NEVER done anything to deserve anything less than our trust and our love, and He never will. We have nothing to be afraid of, and we have everything to gain. Feel His embrace, know His peace, and walk about with the true freedom that can only come from Him.

 

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What is it that is truly important to us? Do we place God and pleasing Him at the top of our list? Do our priorities reflect a true devotion to Him? When God asked Solomon what he would like from Him, Solomon’s answer reflected a desire to follow God’s law and to please Him. Not only did God grant his request for an understanding heart, but He also gave him all the good things that Solomon did not ask for because they were more self-focused. When we focus on God first, the rest of the good things fall in line naturally. This is something we struggle with, however, because our first inclination is often to focus on ourselves and our needs. This is something to be guarded against.

When we find the truly important gifts that the Father gives us, if we are wise, we pursue them regardless of cost. To some, God gives the gift of wisdom, to some the talent for healing others, to some the gift of teaching and conveying knowledge, etc. These gifts of God are those we would be wise to pursue no matter the cost, because they serve His people. If we are oriented toward Him as we should be, then that is where our priority will be. You see, in the final judgement, we will not be judged on style, accumulated wealth, power that was attained, or any of the things that the worldly find to be important. We will instead be judged on our service to others, to our compassion toward those who need it most, on our focus on self-giving rather than self-aggrandizement. Our Lord will weigh not only what we accomplished, but what our intentions were, and what we simply tried to do – successful or not. He is the only just judge, because He is the only one to truly know our minds and hearts, and so be able to judge us in true fairness and justice. What He asks, is that we try to follow His laws and teachings, and that when we stumble, we get back up and keep trying. He is not weighing only our success, He is looking for us to love Him enough to keep trying, and to bear the crosses we each have, and to try to do His will regardless of personal cost. If we can do this, we are on our way to the same knowledge and wisdom that Solomon displayed, because we knew enough to put God’s purposes first, and all the other good things we received simply came as the natural result of that choice. We can trust God, we can rely on Him to do this for us, just as He did for Solomon. He is our Father and is fully deserving of all our love and trust. We are His children, and we know that He will never disappoint us in the ways that truly matter.

 

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