Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Sin. It’s something with which we all struggle. It’s a reality in all of our lives. The important question we must ask is not – do I have sin, but what do I do about my sins? In today’s gospel Jesus tells is telling us “Yes, I know sin is real in your life, now do something about it!” He is calling us to not only recognize our sinfulness but to cut that sinful action out of our lives.
While we may not be being asked to literally cut out our tongue because we gossip and judge, we are being asked to look at what brings that on – do we gossip more in a certain group of people? Do we judge people more when we stop praying daily? Look at the nature of the sin and find ways to change your life to get rid of it. We are being asked to do more than simply say “I have sinned” and take it to the next step to say “I have done all I can to try and stop sinning this way.”
I remember learning about confession when I was a child. I was told that for any confession to be a sincere confession we must intend to stop committing that sin. We are human, so sometimes we do fall into that sin again, but our intention should be to do all that we can to cut that out of our lives. But this is hard. It means that we must make changes and change is HARD.
The people in my life whom I admire the most are those who have had the courage to change parts of their lives that have led them to sin – whether they have stopped drinking, left a job they felt was unethical, overcome an addiction or otherwise gotten out of a sinful behavior, I find them all to be truly inspiring.
To be able to do this, we must first be willing to spend that quiet time with ourselves to allow ourselves to honestly discern what sins we need to cut out of our lives and what we can change to do that. We have to admit that we are broken and that we have hard work to do and hard changes to make. May our first step today be seeking out some quiet time to pray and to ask God to reveal to us those behaviors that are sinful and need changing. What do we need to cut out of our lives? Then, pray about ways to cut that out. Pray about what can be done to make those behaviors better. And then, do something. Make those changes, even though they are hard.
And remember this other beautiful message from this gospel - God loves us in our brokenness and our messiness. I find so much comfort in those words, for I am broken and life is messy. Jesus tells us that God would welcome us lovingly into heaven no matter how broken and battered we appear on the outside, as long as we have struggled and fought to love God and to battle with our sinfulness. Yes, sin is real, but so is the power to overcome it.
- AJ Grimm