Expect Big Things

“God our Savior, desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth…For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle”     1 Timothy 2:4,7. St. Paul is absolutely clear that our Lord desires every soul on the campus of NDSU (and in the entire world) to come to know, love, and worship Him while on this earth and to spend an eternity with Him in heaven. But do I really live my life as though God can do that? Are my expectations based on what I think I can reasonably accomplish with my abilities in the limited time that I have? Or are my expectations based on the fact that an all-loving, all-powerful Father will spare no price to save His children (that was already proven 2000 years ago on a cross)? Am I satisfied that nearly 100 students are actively involved in evangelization and several hundred more attend weekly Bible studies at NDSU? What if several thousand students were involved? Wouldn’t it be great if three-quarters of the student body came to a relationship with Christ and were receiving the abundant graces Jesus offers in the sacraments? Absolutely, but would the good shepherd that left the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one would be satisfied? I don’t think so. 

“What are you suggesting we do?” you ask. “Sleep three hours a night so that we have more time to evangelize? Quit our jobs to evangelize full-time? Eat pop-tarts and fast food to cut down on meal time? Get theology degrees?” Well, maybe…but once again we find ourselves placing human limitations on the power of God. The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son…while remaining a virgin. Mary, clearly without understanding how this would be physically possible, responded with complete faith, “let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). God promised Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Quite the promise, especially since Abraham and Sarah were almost 100 years old, childless, and had been unable to conceive in 70 or 80 years of marriage. Romans 4:19-21 tells us that, “[Abraham] did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead…no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” As far-fetched as God’s promise may have seemed, Abraham was willing to give the Creator of the universe the benefit of the doubt.  Why aren’t we willing to do the same? How do we get so caught up in our human weakness that we can’t even see the infinite power of God?

 So, what do we do? I suggest we start by praying and fasting as though God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth…because after all, that is what Scripture says. “How are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” Romans 10:14-15. It seems that we should start actually sharing the Gospel if we desire others to receive it. And it seems that we should start inviting people to enter the Church, “the pillar and bulwark of truth” (1 Tim 3:15). If we pray for mass conversions and evangelize boldly, then we shouldn’t be surprised when God does really, really big things.

 God is all-powerful. God desires all men to be saved. Let’s act accordingly.

Ask, Seek, Knock - Reflection on Matthew 7:7-8

In recent years, my prayer of discernment has often consisted of, “Lord, I pray that you would open and close doors that I might have clarity in knowing Your will.” Sounds pretty good, right? Well, I’ve slowly come to the realization that my mentality in praying this “open and close doors” prayer is flawed. Yesterday, as I prayed with Matthew 7:7-8, my eyes were opened to see how God desires for me to ask, seek, and knock.

I’ve been blessed to receive unexpected gifts before. I’ve run across some surprisingly neat treasures by accident. And I bet that if I’d stand on the front porch of someone’s house for long enough, they’d eventually see me and come out. Having said this, I’ve received many more gifts that I’ve actually asked for. I’ve found a lot more things by taking the time to look for them. And knocking on the door to someone’s house seems to get a few more responses than just awkwardly standing there.

So what’s this have to do with discernment? Well, as I prayed, I saw myself walking down a long hallway lined with doors on either side. The doors were labeled with each of the options that I was currently discerning. I was surprised to see that all of the doors were closed which clearly means…death?!? No, well, not yet at least. Rather, it quickly became clear that unless I were to knock or try the doorknob it would be virtually impossible to tell which doors were locked or unlocked. Pretty obvious, I know.

Similarly, God desires for us to know His will, and He certainly has the power to open doors that we haven’t even tried to open ourselves. However, God doesn’t treat us like robots that require specific commands to complete any task. In His infinite love for us, God most often entrusts us with the responsibility of actually asking, seeking, and knocking. Here in lies the difference between active and passive discernment. For much of my life, I’ve stood their awkwardly in front of doors and become frustrated when they didn’t magically open or when I came to find out that they’d been locked all along. Now I’m actively discerning God’s will by first praying, then knocking and trying the doorknob, and finally by trusting that God will lock and unlock those doors according to His plan for my life.

Reflection on John 21:15-19

After Peter is given the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus three times and Jesus commands him to shepherd the Church, Jesus tells him that that because of his love for Jesus “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go…follow me.” What seemed to begin as a hasty and rather naive decision to “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” has now, just three short years later, resulted in Peter being given authority over the Church on earth. And he has made the decision, once again, to “follow me” with the knowledge that on this path he will sacrifice everything, endure countless hardships, and eventually be killed for his undying love of Jesus. It seems at this point that Jesus’ invitation to “follow me” may have been a little vague.

“Lucas, do you love me? Lucas, do you love me? Lucas, do you love me? ...Follow me.”

Reflecting back on my own conversion, I can see myself in Peter’s sandals. After encountering Jesus, I responded to His gracious invitation and told him that I too would follow Him. In reality, I thought I was just signing up to give up some of the major sin in my life, to spend some time in prayer, and to speak out on matters of faith and morals. When he asked me to at least be open to the priesthood and then asked me to serve him as a missionary, I should have seen the warning signs that Jesus was taking my initial “yes” a little more serious than I was. Here I thought Jesus just wanted to help me become a well-rounded person or to do some community service by leading a Bible study with some college guys. Little did I know that what He really wanted was me…all of me. He wants me to die for Him…because I love Him…because He loves me. It would be nice if he just wanted me to be a martyr – painful…but quick. I could do that, maybe, if I had to…maybe.
 
But since that doesn’t seem to be the case, it must mean that He wants me to die for Him every day…every single day…every single moment of every single day. It means that He wants me to choose Him over my favorite “little” sins that I somehow expect Him to overlook; it means that he wants me to choose Him over my “buddies” that wouldn’t understand if I had to tell them “I don’t ____ anymore…I love Jesus Christ”; it means that he wants me to choose Him over the world that tries to remind me “you’re a better ‘Christian’ than most of us” but forgets to mention that because Jesus doesn’t grade on a curve, better than average can still land you in hell if you don’t truly love Him; he wants me to choose Him over the devil…because that’s who is behind all of these attacks. And not only that, but He’s asking me to sacrifice my time, my money, my talents, my comforts, my reputation…my life, so that others might come to know, love, and worship Him too. And while I’d be tempted to say that Jesus is asking a lot, I know better now…I know that He’s really asking for everything…and it seems at this point that His invitation to “follow me” may have been a little vague…
 
Which makes me think Jesus may have been a little vague when He said, “you who have followed me…will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Mt19:28-29).