How Do You Do It? – Measuring Obedience

Greetings Dear Reader,

Mat 5:20 I can guarantee that unless you live a life that has God's approval and do it more faithfully than the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

After Jesus speaks the part of this discourse that we know so well he sets up a clear comparison.  The religious leaders of his time are shown for the most part to be prideful and self-serving.  They had corrupted the law and burdened people with a form of dead orthodoxy that neglects the love of God.

St. Vincent de Paul chapel, St. Louis

The people of Christ’s time viewed their religious leaders as having attained a height of holiness.  Christ showed how their additions to the law burdened the people and detracted from the truth.  He challenged people to live true holiness and so be better than that Pharisees.

My faithfulness in the journey must come from a moment by moment realization that it is not the trappings of religion that make my faith work.  It is, instead, a constant effort to bring every thought into captivity so that it belongs to Christ and his mission for me.  It is not doing what someone else tells me to do to appear holy.  It is doing what is right by knowing God as intimately as possible. 

There is no point of arrival in this life.  There is no time when I have completed my transition from a fallen man to a righteous one.  Sometimes I am so weary of struggling with sin that I wish to give up.  Feeling that way is not wrong as long as my next step is to continue the journey in the grace and mercy of Christ.

How do I do it?  I do not compare my righteousness to any other man.  I look to Christ and my desire to be like him.  I strive every moment to embrace the love and grace he offers me to get me through that moment.  I fall and get up. I fail and ask forgiveness.  I do my best to live what I believe in public and in private.

Realizing that this is a life-long endeavor is a great starting place.  I am no earning God’s favor.  I am following him home.  In his love and grace he provides joy in the journey when we really follow.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."