The Paradoxes of Peace & Faith (10/12/2021)

[Final article in a series on living Christ daily through the prescripts of the Peace Prayer]

“For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Jesus challenged us frequently in His teaching with paradoxes of faith and the wholeness and holiness that awaits us if we will simply believe. Jesus told us, “The last shall be first”, “the least among you shall be great,” and “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant.” While the need for faith is obvious, the requirements of faith may be more difficult to grasp. But we are fortunate in that our loving LORD, Jesus Christ, revealed the path of life in abundance.

From the moment of our conception, we have been recipients of the LORD’s love. And the LORD’s love fills us and overflows, sending us out in the name of Christ, to love and to serve our LORD by loving and serving others. We know that the more we share our faith and live our faith, the greater it becomes. It is not depleted through sharing, it is strengthened, it is increased. We also know, as we put on the apron of humility and serve the LORD by serving others, that the rewards exceed the costs. The LORD’s ways are different from ours in the most marvelous ways.

And the LORD’s mercy extends to us beyond our human expectations, yet the LORD puts a caveat on mercy, if we seek mercy, we must be merciful ourselves. If we seek the LORD’s forgiveness, we must be ready to forgive others. Jesus taught this in the Our Father. If we would be ambassadors of Christ in the world, we must be willing to forgive others recalling always the price the LORD paid for the forgiveness of our sins. Looking at the crucifix, how can we withhold forgiveness from a brother or sister when our LORD who was sinless paid for ours?

And we were washed clean of our original sin through the waters of baptism, we died to sin and rose to life in Christ through the waters of our baptism. We live each day as followers in the life and love of our LORD. And we know that through his resurrection, he conquered death. As his followers, we believe that when our time in this life on earth comes to an end, there is life beyond, there is life in the LORD. We hold that as our destination on our journey.

Our destination is not so much a place as a promise of an eternal relationship with our LORD in the presence of our LORD. And so, while we live our lives fully in faith, hope and love, spending our time and energies on the mission and in relationship with our LORD and others, we know that there is more to come, much, much more.

Until tomorrow, love well.