CHOOSING TO SERVE THE LORD


SATURDAY, NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Josh 24:14-29; Ps 16:1-25,7-8,11; Mt 19:13-15

Choose for yourselves whom to Serve

The Lord, our God and creator, presents himself to us every day, at every turn of our lives. He presents himself not only to believers, but to unbelievers alike; for as Jesus Christ stated in the Gospel, God gives his sun and rain to good and bad, deserving and undeserving of his goodness. The fact that God willed us into existence is already an express invitation to His communion. We accept the invitation every day, knowing the truth in any way, and live by the truth we know. To refuse to accept the truth is to refuse to enter into communion with God. The scriptures bear witness to the presence of wisdom among men, beckoning to everyone who cares to come to her banquet of life. Prov 9:1-6. The ever-present wisdom represents the word of God that is present and active everywhere in the world. If we listen and follow the word of God, we enter into the communion of life for which God created us. But if we refuse to listen and choose ignorance of God and his will for us, we choose to live in darkness and to die. Our choices sees us following and worshiping the living God, or following and worshiping the idols of the nations, which many are worshipping and dying for.

We must follow God wholeheartedly and without any coercion, with the understanding that he is our life and ultimate Good. Based on this, Joshua asked the Israelites to choose whom to serve when they came into the Promised Land. “Fear the Lord and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if you will not serve the Lord, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.” The choice to serve the Lord is ours to make every day and at every turn of our lives. The choice defines our orientation in life, whether we are living for our temporal fulfilment or gratification, or living in hope of eternal life. The faith and hope accompanying the choice for God define the Christian people. For the choice turns their lives into a profession of faith in God and his word. To be able to make the same choice consistently in our lives and daily, we must keep the company of the Son of Man. This requires that we fill our moments and minds with the word of God, or with things and people that remind us of his life and teaching. The company of Jesus is open to everyone to enjoy.  

When the youth came to Jesus Christ in Matthew 19 to inquire about eternal life with God, our Lord advised him to go and keep the Commandments. Desiring more, he was invited to sell all his possessions and give to the poor and join the company of Jesus. We all need the company of Jesus Christ to worship, live for God, and with him. We enter or reject communion with God by the choices we make daily. We also influence others through our choices. We help them choose God and enter his communion or reject God and his communion. Jesus expressed unhappiness when his disciples stopped those bringing children to him. “People brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’” To choose in favour of the world or self, in spite of God, is to take the little ones in faith away from Jesus Christ. The Son of God became man that he might dwell with us and guide us home to the Father. Faith in him makes us share in his mission of bringing sinners back to the Father’s communion. Those who believe say with the psalmist: “Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’ O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.”

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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