Text: Matthew 7:12-21
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote that “we try to keep ‘personal happiness’ as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be ‘good.’ We [want at the same time] to let our minds be focused on money or pleasure or ambition, [yet hoping], in spite of this, to behave honestly or chastely or humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do.”
In our lives, we are regularly told that our own personal life projects are everything, and that the bravest among us are those who give their lives entirely over to such projects. The more “unique,” or “daring,” or “authentic,” the better. But if Lewis—echoing Jesus—is right, then it seems that those who are most intent on feeding their own appetites are that much less able to tell themselves ‘no’ at all. And, once their own individual lives are fed to appetite, well, then soon enough no one else may say ‘no’ to them either—not even God.
But to embrace the Father’s will, and walk where the Father points, is to be in the footsteps of our Lord whose life was a steady road of letting love for God guide both every ‘no’ and every ‘yes,’ even to the cross and the tomb. And you are counted among the fruit of that life.
Easter joy ~ Pr. Dave Brooks