I continue to live out my life allowing the Gospel to inform it, to form it and shape it. The eagerness that the Gospel asked me to live out yesterday brought me to gratefulness for all that God has done for me.
Today's first reading, from 2 Tim 1, begins with Paul's statement of gratefulness. Am I grateful to God, even in the midst of difficulties and messiness? The challenge for me is to remained focused on God and see Him for who He is rather than for what He does. When I start to love Him as a person (vs a "vending machine") then I am open to see the world differently. I am not going to be disappointed when I don't get what I want. True freedom!
Do I worship God with a clear conscience? One of the effects of living a life based on the Gospel is that we make room for Jesus to live in us. All that is selfish and proud is slowly removed in order to make room for Him. In the end, our conscience will be clearer because He can remove all that corrupts our conscience. Who knew? You live the Gospel and you sleep better at night!
Paul is clear; we have to move away from the mentality of spectators and consumers and become co-protagonists in this life of ours. We continually expect others to entertain us, inspire us, motivate us. There is nothing wrong and we have to do that but I think that we have become totally dependent on others to the point that we don't have any more responsibilities: Stir into flame the gift of God that you have. At Baptism, we have been given a candle and the minister invites parents and godparents to keep the flame burning. What did we do with that flame? Have we entrusted it to others so? We are responsible of keeping our faith alive, of making sure our soul are not dormant. We cannot stir the flame by doing nothing.
God has given us all that we need to keep ourselves from slumbering. But we must make the choice of using the gifts of God. He has not given us a spirit of cowardice but of power, love and self-control. Do we live as powerful people? (I remember that Christian power is not manifested by lording over people but through loving service).
I need to turn everything into a springboard. "Do not be ashamed," Paul says. I admit, there is a lot of being ashamed - the brutal realization that we, each one of us, can mess up so easily God's plan is absolutely shameful. But it's a reality. Cowardice will lead me to think that I cannot be part of it because I am better than they are. None of us is, and all of us share the same reality: we can mess up.
I have to turn this shame into a source of power and love. Embrace the sinner as God has embraced me as such.
I, too, have to bear my share of shardship for the Gospel, as Paul says. I do this not on my own; I would be crushed. I bear my hardship with the strength that comes from God. It is that makes me journey meaningful. It is He who has given me a spirit of power.
God has saved and called us to a holy life. This is not a life that is marked by all the good deeds that I am capable of doing but it's the life that comes from His gifts.
Now I know that as I stir the gift of God into a flame, what I am really doing is allowing myself to live in God. This is true life. Then, my life will be fire. This is worth any hardship!
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