4th Sunday after Pentecost 7.7.19 Obedience
The apostles were trying to catch fish and they would have
been happy if they had achieved that much.
They went from there to being among the most important
people in history, working countless miracles for good, converting and saving
many souls, and themselves enjoying the glory of heaven!
They went a lot further than they would have expected.
We can take a hint from this. We might spend a lot of our
time thinking nothing is happening; thinking that we do not have much influence
on world events; yet we have our own share in glory to fulfil.
Our Lord calls us to follow Him, but does not tell us
(beyond broad outlines) what is going to happen. We lay down our nets and
follow Him.
We do not allow ourselves to be discouraged if we have
waited a long time and nothing seems to be happening. This is a fairly normal
state for a Christian.
Great things can happen any time, and when they happen they
really happen.
It is helpful also to remember that we are not here to ‘succeed’
(as the world might see it) but primarily to do the will of God; to be holy
as He is holy (1 P 1,16), not because it brings a reward or because it has
good effects, but simply for its own sake.
We obey God in gratitude and awe; simply because He deserves
it from us, whatever we may think the result is going to be.
Obedience is vital. The epistle speaks of disorder in
creation (Rom 8,21-23). The way to get back the original order is to reverse
what caused the disorder, namely Sin. We reverse sin by obeying where we have
previously disobeyed.
There is God's will and then there is our own will. The only
way things will run as they should is if everyone who has a free will is
prepared to surrender that will, resolving instead to live always by God's
will. This way there is no longer any opposition between what God wants and
what I want.
We discover that God's will works much better for us than
any version of events we could produce.
It is only the fact that millions defy God's will that we
have the world as it is.
It is only by surrendering our own will that we can be part
of the ‘team’, the whole Church, establishing God's kingdom.
If you can't beat them join them, so the saying goes; but
not in this case. We will beat them (the world) by giving them something
different.
Whether we have success or failure we will follow through to
the end.
Living by God's will means that we always agree with Him. We
still make our own judgments and decisions, but always in deference to His
higher understanding.
We do not always get what we want with God. Instead we come
to want what we get! What we want will adapt as events unfold. We can go a long
way with that principle. Look again at the apostles.
We don’t have to be happy about everything that happens.
Neither is God! There are many sufferings as the epistle says.
God's will is always seeking to repair what is damaged, and
to enhance what is good. On that principle things are always on the way up. If
we cooperate with His will that process will be accelerated and be much more
obvious.
We ‘put out our nets’ and what seemed improbable or
impossible will become commonplace.
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