Are we giving up fighting the good fight...?

Day 40 of IMPACT | June 12, 2015

Today I was able to spend some time with my team and one of the parishioners at our parish for lunch and some wonderful discussion. As I haven't blogged in a long time, I wanted to take some time and write some thoughts that I was thinking during our discussion.

One of my favourite quotes is from Pope Benedict XVI when he said that "the world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness." Isn't that such a powerful and moving passage? Indeed, much of this world offers comfort. Avoid sensitive topics, stay at home, keep to yourself, stay with familiar surroundings, don't ask questions. There is such a large complacency in the world, and I am guilty of this as well, much apathy. No one cares about anything! Everyone is perfectly content with living in their own little bubble, and constantly striving to do things that will get themselves praise, reward, affirmation, and a feeling self-fulfillment. It's a world driven by me, myself, and I, and a world where God and others seem like distant afterthoughts. "Yeah, I'll help them out if I get something back. I'll go to Mass if I have time. I'll be nice to them if they're nice to me." Where's the initiative, the selflessness, the stepping outside of oneself?

We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)!!! I am still just starting to fathom what that could possibly mean. God created us to love, to give of ourself to others, to mimic his own sacrificial love. We are created in His image, and with a plan! God doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't say "just kidding" and then take back what he just said or did previously (I often do that, for those who don't know). God doesn't make mistakes. He has wonderful plans for all of us, plans that show that He truly has our best interests in mind (Jeremiah 29:11). God doesn't set us up for failure and He certainly isn't malicious to put us in a bad situation that His grace cannot provide a way out of. That's not our God. Our God is love. Our God IS love. Deus caritas EST.

Surely we are meant for more than this? Surely we are meant for more than 10 likes on Instagram, or a cover photo that nobody saw, or a status that nobody commented on? Surely we are meant for more than an ad on TV, on billboards, that convince us that we should be someone else? Surely we are meant for more than just staring at a mirror wishing we were just that much thinner, that much darker, that much taller, that much more beautiful, that much more handsome, that much more muscular?

Truly, are we giving up? Are we getting tired, are we getting complacent? Are we stopping our fight, discouraged at the world for what it's become? Are we giving up sharing Jesus because there's no one that we think would appreciate us for sharing our faith? Our cure for spiritual cancer? Our source of joy and peace and love and life?

We are constantly fighting a spiritual battle in this world. We are fighting a battle that a certain evil one wants us to lose. We cannot afford to stop fighting. We cannot cease our prayer. We must not lose sight of God, we must continue to desire Him and choose Him every single day of our lives. It's so much easier to do the alternative, yes. (Like, MUCH easier.) But what is life without something to fight for? What is life without someone to sacrifice for? What is life without someone to live for?

Are we living at all? Maybe it's time we stop being comfortable and start being great. Maybe it's time we finally come to life with the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.