To be a faithful follower of Christ, you need courage. We need the courage to deny ourselves and the courage to allow God to grow in us. The denial of ourselves is a crucial part of being a follower of Christ. Participating in the life of God and allowing Him into our lives takes more than just saying it, we must apply it.
On many occasions our relationship with God is based on how much, when and what we receive from God. We measure our relationship with God according to our own needs, thus ignoring the will of God in our lives and reducing our faith to a faith where we use God, a faith where our comfort prevails and where we look for what only we come to think will make us truly happy. This is a faith where God is not heard.
As Christians, we are called to follow the faithful example of Our Lord Jesus Christ in his intimate relationship with the Father, where is evident that the Lord rests in the perfect will of his Father. In Jesus, God himself becomes a man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and gives himself to the Father in a living sacrifice for the redemption of humanity. It is essential that Christians have courage and follow the example of Christ on the Cross. We must understand love, not as a feeling, but understanding love as a sacrifice. The sacrifice that we are called to live is for the salvation of our souls. Christ himself invites us to follow him, carrying our cross and in this way to be participants in his presence in heaven.
Christians are called to live morally at all times, not only in the church and its surroundings, but to lead a life of witness where it is possible to demonstrate what we profess we believe. We must start at home with small actions, being a good example of father, mother and children. In order to transmit Christ in every place, and by this I mean, that we should not be satisfied with thinking merely about being good people, but we should be persons who long for heaven and who work for the grace of God in order to reach heaven. By grace, we understand that we are called as Christians to live in a supernatural way and that only then, in those supernatural moments, we will find true happiness.
Is it important that we ask ourselves some critical questions: What is my relationship with God? Am I putting conditions on my faith according to what I receive? Am I afraid of the cross that Christ asks me to take up and to carry? Yes, it is true, courage is needed in the questioning of ourselves and yes, we must have a lot of courage if we want to die for Christ.
Father Cesar Pirateque
Latest posts by Father Cesar Pirateque (see all)
- Nourishment for the Soul - September 29, 2021
- Keep Your Eye on the Harbor - September 25, 2019
- The Hour of Love - December 11, 2018
