“Only In God Is My Soul At Rest

“In this is love, not that we loved God but that HE LOVED US and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” (1Jon 4:10)

This quote from the first letter of St. John is very important. If we don’t get this straight, we can find our self trying to earn our way into God’s good graces. “I’ll work very hard and try to serve God and then he will like me and accept me and even give me a room in the garage of his mansion in heaven.” Hmmmmmm, nice idea, but it just doesn’t work.  

The “Our Father” teaches us that doing God’s will is essential to life  “ thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”. So it’s not a question of whether we should do God’s will, but how are we able to do it and even why God calls us to do it. It’s not so we can prove to God that we are lovable and should be loved by him. It all begins with God who is love, and his love for us.

Think about salvation history and all the men and women that had a relationship with God. In every situation, God was the initiator. It was God who reached out. God is the initiator of every action in the lives of mankind. He is the one that FIRST loves us. The Lord gazes on us with love and then we are able to  respond to that love. 

I can attest to the fact that “pushing God’s love for us to the side” can cause us a lot of trouble. We all can relate to the familiar passage from Matthew 11:28-30…” Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give your rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  Why are we burdened…why are we tired? When we don’t allow the love of God to surround us and empower us…when we try to do God’s will in our own strength, we become burdened; it just doesn’t work. 

What is sin, except trying to live without God and his love…. on our own. Even when trying to live for God without embracing the grace and mercy and love of God, we make a big mess of things; we take the burden of finding happiness on our own shoulders… we will always fail. And how do we recover from this mess? Well we must start over…… we must begin again to receive God’s love, to receive his mercy and forgiveness and comfort. Lord save me. Lord help me. Lord forgive me….” We need to again ask Our Father “to give us this day our daily bread…to forgive us , to lead us on a path away from temptation, to deliver us  from evil…”. As we begin anew in this love, we can once again experience the “rest of God, the easy yoke, the light burden…..”.

In this is love, not that we first loved God, but that he loved us……. and let’s remember that he is taking care of all the rest, including our sins. God gazes on us in LOVE. It’s that gaze of love that enables us to be at rest, to not be burdened by the trials of life. Let not our sins and failings cause us to run and hide from God and his gracious love. Let us not run from that love. It’s his wonderful love that enables us to do his will and experience ongoing peace and joy and happiness. And as we receive this gracious love, all will be well with our soul….. “Ah yes, the Good News.”