Who Really Decides? Us Or God?
Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
When Jesus spoke of the condemnation that would come upon the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, it was not with a spirit that we might find ourselves sometimes feeling towards people who have rejected and hurt us. It was not an “I’ll get even with you” type of attitude and anger. It was with sadness.
Jesus loved the people of those towns. He came to save them from themselves, from where their own sins were leading them. But they would have none of his help. They wished him to leave them alone.
Whether we go to heaven or hell is not a decision that Jesus nor his Father makes. It is our own decision.
God does not use his right nor authority to condemn us. We are the ones who have been given that power. Jesus spent much of his time trying to get people to accept him. For if they would accept him, they would be accepting God; and in accepting God they would have all the goodness and happiness they could ever desire. Reject him, and no matter how hard we chase after happiness, it will always elude us.
Let us hope that the people of those cities came to their senses. Let us hope and pray that we don’t leave ours. We have chosen Christ and, therefore, God to be the center of our lives. We should often think about what that really means in practical, everyday living.
Are we really allowing Christ, his teachings and principles to govern our lives - even when we feel like ignoring and rejecting them and venturing out on our own? “Whoever rejects me,” Jesus said, “rejects him who sent me.” Let us not do that.
