During moments of grace, and they are aplenty in my life, it is easy to see what is good from what is evil. To love is good. To hate and harbor evil thoughts against others is bad. To care and to share is good. To be selfish and greedy is bad. To be forgiving is good; to be unforgiving is bad. To tell the truth is good. To tell a lie is bad. Fidelity is good. Infidelity is bad.
And yet during moments of sin and weakness, and they are aplenty in my life, I choose to do that which I know to be bad and evil. It takes effort to be good and it seems so effortless to do what is bad and evil. I have to strain and to strive and to struggle to be good. And it seems I only have to be myself to be bad.
This is what Christ came for. He came that we may have life and have it in its fullness. It is not by giving in to our natural desires that we attain the fullness of life but by straining and striving to overcome our natural desirse: not to be first but to be the last; not to rule over but to serve; not wealth, glory or fame but self-denial, service and love. He knows we are weak and are often wrong and are sinners to the core. He will make us strong, forgive us every time we fall and change our lives for the better.
Lord, let me hear your voice today, and let me not harden my heart.
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Luke 11:14-23