Do you have confidence in
the gifts has God entrusted to you?
It is easy to lose sight
of God’s action in our lives, and of the gifts God has entrusted to us. The
Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me, the people of Israel say to
Isaiah. But the prophet reminds them
that God has first and foremost given them the divine gift of life; they can
look where they may, yet the only true meaning of human existence resides with
the maternal God who created them, who birthed them into this world. Can a
mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?, the
prophet asks. If, in Isaiah, Israel
doubts God’s concern, the psalmist offers a clear solution: Rest in
God alone, my soul. Psalm 62 resonates
with the confidence instilled by the gift of God’s presence, and calls us to trust in him at all times, confident
that he will never forget us, aware
of God’s ongoing devotion to the people he has created.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus
also encourages his disciples to take stock of the gifts God has entrusted and
will continue to entrust to them. Yet
caution is in order. So often, our
efforts to control our existence keep us from engaging meaningfully in our
lives; at times, when our priorities are particularly misplaced, we forget
God’s gifts and trust mammon
instead. Are the disciples overly
attached to wealth and prosperity? Are
they worried or anxious about their day-to-day lives? If so, then they need to step back and learn
to cultivate absolute trust in the God who created them, the Lord who will
provide for their every need: Look at the birds in the sky: they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing
into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Jesus
exhorts his disciples to seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness; if they do so, all that they need will be
given to them in due course. For, as Paul reminds the Corinthians, we are stewards of the mysteries of God. As such, we must embrace all of the gifts
God has entrusted to us, making every effort to serve the Lord, impervious to
the judgment of others. Do not worry about your life, Jesus
says, for God has given us all the gifts we will ever need to thrive. We have only to trust, to have confidence in
the God who will never forget us.
This post is based on Fr.
Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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