Following the Will of God

Gospel: Mt 7:21, 24-27
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120524.cfm

In today’s gospel, Jesus makes another call for action. To enter the Kingdom of God is to do the will of the God. It goes beyond just calling out to God, but requires you to follow. For us, this may be quite a daunting task. What is the will of God? How do we know we’re doing it? We don’t wake up everyday with directions on what to do to follow the will of God. For a deeply pious person, it can be very difficult to make decisions because it is hard to know which action is truly the right action.

I try to fall back on some specific scriptures to keep myself in check. It’s not always the easiest to do, but they have helped me when reflecting on my choices and actions:

We are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27): At times of personal struggle when I am feeling low about myself or others, I try to remind myself of this. Each of us we created for a purpose and in the image of God. At the core of our being we have something unique to show the world about God and others have unique things to share with us. This does not mean that we are always portraying that image, but there is still God in there trying to work on us.

We are to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39): Are our actions loving of God, others, ourselves, and God’s creation? “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him (1 John 4:16).” Are my actions out of love? This love goes beyond merely loving those that are close to us but also those that are challenging for us to love. As we are also called to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).”

We will not always be perfect, but God is perfect when it comes to delivering on this. God does not call us to go beyond what God does for us. God is the source that created us in God’s image and God will continue to love us and care for us. God wants us to participate in the multiplication of love and mercy. The kingdom of God requires our participation to make it come to fruition. We are active agents in its progress and we too can actively slow it down. In the end, love will triumph, and God is calling us to make sure it happens for us.

May we increase in love. Amen.