Love of God versus Love of the World (December 30)

-


In 1 John 2:12-17, John addresses three groups of people (little children, fathers and young men) in which every one of us can perfectly fix himself or herself. On account of the revelation of God in and through Christ, St John strongly believes that we are now forgiven, that we can now claim a better knowledge of God, that we are now stronger, better equipped with God’s Word and are now victorious over the Evil One.

From the above, we learn that the coming of Christ has brought about FORGIVENESS of sins, RECONCILIATION with God, FULL REVELATION of God’s face and ASSURANCE of victory over the Evil One. These are clear expressions of God’s special love for all of us. And on the basis of that special love, St John advises us not to love the world or the things of the “world”. Here, the “world” is a metaphor of anything that is UNGODLY, EVIL and UNRIGHTEOUS. So, to love the “world” is to hate God: “If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him” (1 Jn. 2:15).

Sometimes, we erroneously think that difficulties and challenges in life are sufficient enough to dissuade us from loving God as we ought to. Maybe, the life of Anna the old widow (cf. Luke 2:36-40) may help us understand that our love for God should never be dependent on the circumstances of life. Seven years after marriage, Anna was thrown into the wide ocean of widowhood, and may not have been free from the attendant travails of widowhood in such a male-chauvinistic Jewish culture. As a widow, she must have known rejections, pains, harassments, abandonment, deprivations and agony. Despite all of the above, she lived her life in worship, in gratitude and in humble service to God. Her love for God was not dependent on the circumstances of life. For eighty-four years and still counting, she remained faithful to God. Anna’s life is a good example to us.

If we can always remember what God has done for us in and through Christ, circumstances of life won’t be enough to dissuade or stop us from loving Him as we ought to. In Christ, we have been reconciled with God and with one another! In Christ we have been forgiven! In Christ we've seen the face of the Father! In Christ, we've become strong and are now victorious over the Evil One. If we have truly known Christ and clearly understood why He came in the flesh, we will have every reason to be ever grateful to God by LOVING Him so dearly irrespective of our life situations and circumstances! 

Prayer:

May the love of the Father continue to compel us to give ourselves in humble service to Him and to humanity, Amen! 


Have a lovely day!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts versus the Giver (Monday, Week 20, Year II)

-
Image
A gift, by the virtue of what it is, is given. In other words, there must be a giver. Gift can come or be in the form of a good friendship or relationship, material thing, good job, personal talent, and so on. Every cherished gift is the delight of our eyes, the pride of our power and the desire of our souls. The gifts that we possess should then remind us of the giver. It smacks of arrogance and ingratitude when gifts are used without acknowledging or making reference to the giver. For the Jews, the Temple or Sanctuary was the delight of their eyes, the pride of their power and the desire of their souls. It was a precious gift which they jealously guarded. However, they adorned the Sanctuary but did not truly adore the One for whom the Sanctuary exists. They were too attached to the “gift” (sanctuary) but were completely detached from the Giver of the gift – from Yahweh. Ezekiel prophesied to them that this sanctuary which was their delight will be profaned and taken away from them. M
Read more

Persecution and Triumph, the Two Realities of Christian life (Saturday, Week 33, Year 2, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

-
Image
The book of Revelation is full of symbols and imageries that need to be carefully interpreted for us to understand the message they communicate. In today’s first reading (cf. Rev. 11:4-12), John was told about two olive trees and two lamp stands serving as witnesses to the Holy One. Who or what do these two sets of witnesses (olive trees and lamp stand) stand for? When we read further in order to understand what happened to these two witnesses, it may be a bit clear to us that the “two witnesses” may be pointing to Moses and Elijah, judging from what they did on earth and what they stand for. Moses stands for the Law; and Elijah stands for the Prophet. Anyone who bears witness as Moses bore witness to the Law of God must be persecuted by the beast as the first reading (from the Book of Revelation) recounted. Anyone who bears witness to the messages of truth as Elijah and other prophets did must be persecuted just as the prophets were persecuted. Persecution is a fate that awaits every
Read more

Enkindle the Embers of Unity, Quench the Fire of Disunity (Wednesday, Week 22, Year A)

-
Image
For some time now, we have heard Paul talk about the spiritual and the unspiritual: what it means to live and operate on the level of the Spirit (the spiritual) and on the level of the flesh (the unspiritual). Paul was very emphatic about this topic possibly because he was addressing a group of people who were too intellectual and academic in their approach to the things of God and all of that. Remember that the Corinthians were Greek; and the ancient Greeks were known to be too particular and more interested in intellectualism, sophistry, philosophy and human wisdom. And we must not forget that Paul has been very suspicious of over-reliance on worldly/human wisdom in understanding and appreciating the things of the Spirit. To rely more on human/worldly wisdom is a sign that one may be operating on the level of the flesh; and to operate on the level of the flesh breeds a whole lot of vices such as division or sectionalism, hedonism, and so on. In today’s section of that letter to the C
Read more