Who are we before God, and no one else? We are unique persons loved by God personally. We are flawed yet loved with a divine compassion and mercy that is undeserved and far beyond our capacity to understand. We somehow know, though, in the depths of our being, that we need that love. We know that love because it made itself known to us in the flesh in Jesus Christ, he who did not cling to his divinity but willingly came among us as one of us to show us the Father’s love by willingly suffering and dying for us on a cross. In rising from the dead, he showed us the unconquerable power of that love, and we believe that that love endures with us now and forever in his Holy Spirit.

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Yes, we are who we are, but we are also called to become more and more the persons that God made us to be, that is, saints. We are called to this by Jesus himself. The unspeakable and beautiful truth behind this challenge is that he knows we are weak, but he also knows our hearts. To those who are open to it and desirous of it, he gives the necessary graces needed to support us in our stumbling efforts to become saints, his holy ones before him, here and now. The choice to become the person God wants us to be is before us every day,

How do we do this? We must first desire to become that person. Then we must actively seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus through daily prayer and reading of the scriptures, meditating on their meaning, their application to our lives, and where we are in our relationship with God and neighbors here and now. Honor the sabbath with the Christian community, all of whom are working on and struggling through their own issues to become the persons God made them to be. We believe that whenever and wherever two or more are gathered in Jesus’ name, Jesus is there in our midst. (Mt. 18:20) By worshipping God together, praying for one another in community, and welcoming God into our relationships with one another, we can learn from one another through word and example.

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We must develop the habit of taking ourselves apart from the daily grind, remove ourselves even briefly from the manifold forces, distractions, and noise that are ever-present in order to give purposeful time and effort to attend to the workings of God within us. We need quiet spaces and silence to enter into the sanctuary at the center of our being, where God carries on the continual act of creation within those whose hearts know both the need and the desire to grow in relationship with Him. It is there that God honors the faithful covenant he made with each of us at our conception.

In this life, we will never be perfect. We are always beginners in the faith-life. But what a glorious thing it is to be a beginner, because it means that there is nothing but possibility and growth before us. The goal beckons us faithfully; it is our choice, our attitude to continue growing toward it that brings God’s graces into the mix to strengthen us, to heal us when we fall, and to encourage us to continue on the way. If we truly want to conform ourselves to God’s will more and more, we must empty ourselves and no longer cling to our lesser desires. We must empty ourselves until only Jesus remains in us, until we can say with true sincerity, “O God, you are enough for me.”

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Who are we before God? We are his beloved children. We are free beings who are sometimes rebellious, sometimes presumptuous, sometimes bored or indifferent, and sometimes, by the grace of God, we are deeply moved to be in love with He Who IS, the One who made us in his own image and likeness. It is this latter attitude that drives us to be the persons that God made us to be. It is this attitude that we need to cultivate, for it will lead us to the joy we desire, even in the midst of our inevitable suffering in this life. God is with us. If we are with him, who or what can be against us?

Lord, open our hearts to know you, to love you, and to serve you and our neighbors more and more in this world so that we may one day be with you in your heavenly kingdom. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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