Independency

How many "self-made men" do you know? The truth, of course, is that none of us really make ourselves. We start our life as a tiny point in our mother's womb. We are born so weak that if left on our own, we would die in hours.

But once we reach adulthood, we believe we are independent and able to do it on our own. We long for freedom and we often say that being free means living in whatever way and doing what we like.

It seems it's hard for us humans to admit the simple truth that we need help. One of my favorite Scriptures is, "He made us, and not we ourselves, his people, and sheep of his pasture" (Psalm 100,3). How true this is, and yet how hard it is for us to admit that we belong to him - that we are "the sheep of his pasture".

Sometimes only feverish crises in life, when it's almost too late, seem to motivate us to admit that we need help - God's help. We seem to believe that we have every right to do what and how we like, but paradoxically we are unhappy about it. Going our own way and doing our own thing doesn't bring the deep fulfillment and satisfaction we all long for. We are like sheep going astray, but the good news is that despite our gross mistakes in life, God never stops loving us.

In Romans 5,8-10 the apostle Paul wrote: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more shall we be preserved from wrath by him now, now that we have been justified by his blood! For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more shall we be we are saved through his life, now that we have been reconciled.”

God never abandons us. He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. All we have to do is open the door and let it in. Without God our life is empty and unfulfilled. But God made us for the purpose of sharing his life with us - the joyful and full life shared by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of the Father, we become full members of God's family. Through Jesus, God has already made us his property, and through his love has bound us to himself in such a way that he will never let go of us. So why not believe the good news, turn to God in faith, take the cross and follow Jesus Christ? It is the only path to true freedom.

by Joseph Tkach