Following God

Trust me when I say that I know that living in North America and being young and being in high school, and trying to fit in, finding yourself and trying to gain as many friends as possible, makes it extremely difficult to live out your faith. Certainly in our day and age, saying you are or practicing your Catholic faith is extremely difficult: you are seen as being again progressiveness, you are labeled as uncool and believing in a myth, you are seeing as someone who says no to what appears to be all the good things in life, you are labeled as someone different, weird, or even a bystander to all that is going on. Some people may even stop talking to you because your association with the church; with the stance on abortion and gay marriage, with the church's stance on sex before marriage or that bread actually becomes the body of Christ. 

We live in a world of division, and you certainly do not escape that when around your friends, family, and social media. The church and believing in God is different that what society says, it is different, it is a challenge and it is going to set you apart from the rest of your friends.

You see, even Jesus, the creator of the universe, felt the loneliness, the hurt, the betrayal of his friends; his life was one that was always focused on the cross. In fact, he lived knowing all of this was going to happen, but yet he kept going- he didn't run away from the separation, from the difference, from the humiliation (Luke 9:51)  His life was about the cross, and he has called our life to be as well when he charged us, "pick up your cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24-25). 

If Jesus went to the cross, we shouldn't expect any easier in our life. We all have our crosses to carry, but we carry them knowing Jesus leads us. 

But as gloomy as I have painted the scene so far, the cross, the separation and the difference is never the end. It is not as if God abandons us. It is not as if we follow Jesus to the cross as there isn't no resurrection. No.  If we follow God, and if we live our life as a life of faith, then we are certain to experience our own resurrection. 

What does that mean? It means that we have a God of abundance. A God, who when we place our trust in him, gives us more than we ever need or ask. We need not look further than the example of the five loaves and two fish in the gospels, (Matthew 14:13-21), the one miracle, besides the resurrection, recorded in all four gospels. When we give all that we are, even if it is just a few loaves and couple fish in the eyes of thousands of people, God works and God supplies. 

All of this to say, that yes, you may stick out, there might be division, and it might be seen as uncool by those around you. But when you can be bold and believe in God and live your faith to the fullest, God will provide for you. He will provide a life-giving relationships, a newness in life, a special grace, and the strength to carry on living in the right state of life.  When we hand ourselves over to God we will be given an abundance. We will be given 12 baskets left over. 

Stay tuned, part two to this post will be coming soon. 

Mike