IS LOVING AND SERVING GOD ...
THE WILL OF YOUR HEART?
Joshua asks his people something which we are constantly being asked ourselves: DISCERN
... IS LOVING AND SERVING GOD ... THE WILL OF YOUR HEART? Can you decide today whom
you will serve? Whom do we really wish
to serve? The God of our fathers or the
little strange gods that we had created for ourselves? It was EASY for us to respond therefore
that it is Yahweh we would like to serve.
But Joshua then commands everyone:
“Put away the strange gods that are among you and turn your hearts to
the LORD, the God of Israel.”
WHAT ARE THESE STRANGE GODS in our contemporary
context? They that we are drawn to ...
whom we know as FALSE yet WE ALLOW THEM TO RULE our HEARTS and our MINDS? We are beholden to them instead of being more
focused on the great works of God! How
do these STRANGE GODS manifest their presence in our lives? Can we identify them ... label them and even
speak to them ... tell them: STRANGE GOD
KA! You estrange me from what I truly
believe and what I hope to become. (ESTRANGE? ... that which isolates us ... alienates us
... pushes us away from the GOOD!) ...
and SADLY ... we can be so convinced of the TRUTH about them ... that we had
allowed them to rule our lives. STRANGE
GODS THAT ESTRANGE US FROM THE TRULY GOOD.
Example: DESPAIR – STRANGE
GOD YAN! This is beyond me ... I am
HOPELESS ... I am NO GOOD! We allow
DESPAIR to rule over us. PREJUDICE
– our evil perceptions of people ... STRANGE GOD YAN! This guy is DIFFERENT ... WEIRD SYA! From this day onward ... I declare war
against him! CYNICISM – kalokohan
naman yan. This is a USELESS
activity. I have nothing to gain from it. I’ve gone through that before ... it didn’t
work. Why try it again? STRANGE GOD YAN! Each time, we encounter these strange god in
our midst, be reminded of Joshua who tells us:
“Put away the strange gods that are among you
and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
WHAT HELPS THEREFORE TO FREE US FROM THESE
FALLS GODS? Joshua himself makes a
proposal: “Fear the LORD and serve him
completely and sincerely.”
FEAR
THE LORD – this
is HOLY FEAR: be more afraid knowing that my current pre-occupation is not in
the service of God ... or that which alieanates me from God. Know that I can be distracted from how God is
calling me at this time and at this minute.
Fear of the Lord allows us to constantly re-adjust our perspectives ...
GOD IS THE SOLE FOCUS AND OBJECT OF ALL THE THINGS THAT I SEE AND
EXPERIENCE. Other than that ... MATAKOT
KA! FEAR THE LORD!
SERVE
HIM – IS THIS WHAT GOD REALLY WANTS ME TO DO or is this
SIMPLY SELF-GRATIFYING! Can I catch myself. Am I serving God or simply serving
myself. This is simply CONVENIENT FOR
ME ... FOR ME ... FOR ME!
IN
SINCERITY AND TRUTH: A certain HONESTY
... gusto ko ba talaga ito ... or I AM JUST FOOLING MYSELF. If I cannot be honest about what I truly feel
about things now ... I don’t know how I can be HAPPY! BITTER!
ANGRY! DEPRESSED! I always
say: If there would be a time in your
life that you will need to be most honest to yourself ... let this be the time
... FOR YOUR OWN SAKE! THIS IS YOUR LIFE
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE.
The CALL of Joshua therefore remains relevant
for us today: DISCERN ... IS LOVING AND
SERVING GOD ... THE WILL OF YOUR HEART
... decide today. How are we putting
away the STRANGE GODS that tend to overpower us and estrange us from focusing
on God and God alone.
This is why the IMAGE OF A CHILD in our Gospel is
important: A child MANIFEST A CERTAIN
FEAR ... A HEALTHY FEAR ... I’LL FOLLOW ... KASI SABI NG NANAY ...
GANITO GANYAN! A child manifest a
certain SINCERITY OF HEART ... he wouldn’t lie ... di ba? “Let the children come to me, and do not
prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
More than being childlike ... let a line from
the Gospel further console us: JESUS
PLACED HIS HANDS ON THEM ... on the CHILDREN
and he went away. He gives his
blessings ... and leaves us on our own ... for what? TO DECIDE ... TO DISCERN ... CAN I LOVE AND
FOLLOW THIS GOD ... OR DO I CONTINUE TO KEEP AND HOLD ONTO MY STRANGE AND
LITTLE GODS ... we discern.
