I was sitting at home last night, reflecting on my day. I began to wonder…if I were to meet Christ
himself right now and he said “I’m going to select three random
moments from your day and we’re going to see how you showed the world my love.”
what were the odds that he’d find three good moments?
Admittedly for everyone some days are better than
others. I mean I know what moments I’d
want Christ to review with me…but what are the odds that out of 24 hours, those
would be the moment’s he’d randomly select?
Not really in my favor. We have
great moments, each and every one of us.
We really do, and we can compare those great moments, measure them as
great, because we have a lot of not so great moments. Would He pick the times I was kind and
generous to my fellow man, to my spouse, or to my children, or would he happen upon a time when
I was short with them, where my frustration ran rough shot over me.
It’s a sobering thought, to be sure. If you put every single moment of your day on
a dial and spun it, where would that little arrow likely land? Would your ratio be in favor of good
moments? If the idea of such a thing
sends a chill down your spine, then you probably already have your answer. If I were to look to the sky and say “Create
in me a clean heart, oh God.” Or “Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice.” Would my
next moment show that I was truly willing to accept that clean heart or show
that I took that sacrifice seriously?
Accepting Jesus is not a casual thing, it is a day to day
responsibility. We are asked, through
accepting Him, to show the world around us, starting in our homes, His love.
This past week we had an issue at home where in one of the
children had a school project due. It
was due, the next day. It had been
assigned to him three weeks prior. There
was plenty of time between its assignment and its due date to complete it, but
the child in question failed to tell us about it until the day before it was
due. Most, if not all parents know this
scenario far too well. The slapped
together science fair project, the tri fold display board with whatever you
could find plastered on there at the 11th hour, and the late trip to
the library praying that the research gets done before they close and politely
tell you to leave. I recall a heavy as
all get out volcano I smashed together the night before when I was in grade
school.
The thing is it’s amazing what we can do when we are under
pressure, but imagine if we had more time to do it? Imagine if we had taken the responsibility seriously
and used the time we were given to our advantage. Imagine what those projects would look like.
From the moment you accept Christ as your savior, regardless
of your faith or denomination, your clock is starting. You are given an assignment, and for the due
date you have a question mark. It could
be due tomorrow, it could be due in 30 years, and it could be due in a hundred. You will never know. But if you take that responsibility seriously,
just imagine what you could do in a day.
Just imagine what you could do in 30 years if you lived every single day
like Christ was going to do a spot check on how you are doing.
Now I am going to clarify here because I am certain that
somewhere out there someone will read this and say “You don’t do good works for
brownie points with Christ.” And they would be right to say so. We don’t do good works for brownie points
with Christ, but as Christ is our example to emulate, we should value his
standard. If I had it in my head every
day that Christ would be the one reviewing this work, not just some outsider
looking in with no concept of where I am at in my life or where my head is at,
but Christ the King of Salvation who knows what weighs on my heart, then I
would want it mirror Him. I would want
His approval over my work. “Lord, does
this please you?” Christ gave us a
measuring tool. “Love the Lord your God
with all your mind, with all your heart, and with all your soul. Love your neighbor as yourself.”
That is your assignment, whether it be given to you at
Baptism, at Confirmation, at RCIA or your rededication to the church, that is
your assignment.
Over the past few weeks I have seen some glowing examples of
“Loving your neighbors as you love yourself.”
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey body checking the Gulf Coast of Texas, I
have seen an amazing outpouring of love in my community and in communities from
around the state and from around the country.
There is no purer form of love then asking “What can I do to help?” “What do you need?” People have opened their homes and kitchens
to those devastated by this storm. When
it looked like entire communities were crippled by this hurricane, surrounding
communities opened up and said “It’s alright.
We’ve got you.”
There are some in my community right now that if Christ came
to them and said “Let’s review three random moments…” the would have nothing to
worry about because they took that call seriously, because every day those
followers of Christ looked at the world they woke up in and said “How can I do
better?”
It starts at home. It
starts by tending your spiritual garden by weeding out the garbage and sin and temptation
that threaten to drag you down. It grows
in your home, where what once were daunting tasks now seem joyful sacrifices
because you are tending to the things important to your family. Then you carry that out into the world around
you. If you woke up today, it’s not too
late to begin your assignment from God.
If you start right now, you will have way more than 3 good moments to
look back on.
Thanks for reading.
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