| Today’s Collect began with these words, “O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding”. Many of you know that I have just returned from Family Medical Leave to be with my oldest daughter who gave birth to her firstborn child. What some of you may not know is that this child is a miracle child. Now I know that the birth of all children is a miracle, so what makes this child so different besides being one of my grandchildren?
My daughter and son-in-law had tried to have a child for many years to no avail - even with the help of modern science. Yet, they did not give up and I will let you in on their secret. On their refrigerator door, helping to hold up ultrasound pictures of their child, is a magnet. On the magnet is written these words from the Letter to the Hebrews, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” As I held my grandson, Michael Joseph, in my arms for the first time, I cannot put into words the joy and thankfulness that I felt. Joy for the gift of Michael Joseph and thankfulness that my daughter and son-in-law against all odds refused to give up their dream.
Now I know that there are many who have tried to have a child and remained childless. I am not saying that they lacked the faith needed for a miracle. The Holy Spirit is in the miracle making business and gives as God allows. However, I am saying that too often in our lives we are on the brink of a miracle and we give up. We allow hopelessness, despair and fear to overtake us and we let go of our dreams. Yet, even then, if it is God’s will for us to have our dreams become reality, He will give us the opportunity to move forward in our lives with Him.
In the reading from Acts today, Paul quoted the following scripture to the Athenians in his sermon in front of the Areopagus, ‘In Him we live and move and have our being’. The mystic Hildegaard of Bingen saw this scripture illustrated in a vision she was shown that revealed the world and all that God has created residing within the very Being of God. Just as a pregnant woman carries her tiny infant inside of her so too does God contain all that He has created within Him. As the scripture tells us, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) In John’s first letter we discover that love is the very essence of God for John writes, “God is love.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot escape the love of God, because we are completely engulfed within Him. Therefore we cannot be separated from the Presence of God. We are as St. Paul teaches, “God’s offspring.” If this be true, then God is our Father. As our Father, He desires like all good parents what is best for us. As the prophet Jeremiah tells us, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This is God’s desire for all of His children.
It is not God that is keeping us from receiving His blessings for us, but our own negativism. The opposite of faith is doubt. When we reject God’s blessings as impossibilities, we are not only negating God’s future for us, but we are also denying God the opportunity to show us His incomprehensible love for us. How many times in our lives have we walked away from God’s best for us, because in our own human minds we could not grasp the reality that God is greater than any circumstances we can ever face.
This is the human tragedy that we as humans limit God’s best in our lives through our own faithless negativism. We are so intent on seeing the obstacles in our lives that we cannot even grasp the concept of God’s abundance just waiting for us. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus in speaking of the God’s love for us encourages us with these words, “‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Too often in our lives, we have not because we do not ask our Heavenly Father for what we need.. We do not ask, because we do not seek God’s best for us. We do not have the blessings of God in our lives, because we see doors in our lives as locked and do not knock on them. Our Father God is just waiting for us to give Him the opportunity to intervene into lives.
If we truly believe that we are God’s children, then we need to start acting like God is our Father. We need to begin expecting miracles to happen in our lives. We need to exchange our negativism for pure and simple faith. Only then will we begin to know the blessings of God in our lives.
If we truly believe that we are God’s children, then we need to start acting like God is our Father. We need to begin expecting mirales to happen in our lives. We need to exchange our negativism for pure and simple faith. Only then will we begin to know the blessings of God in our lives.
In today’s gospel reading from John, Jesus compares Himself to the “true vine”, God the Father as “the vine grower” and we who have been baptized into Him as “the branches”. Jesus tells us, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Those who trust in God’s promises and have the faith to believe in God’s abundance will produce abundance in their own lives. Not because of anything they have done, but because of what God has done through them.
ON the other hand, those who refuse to live in Christ’s abundance and allow negativism, which is the opposite of God, to rule their lives will become spiritually dead. Like dead branches on a healthy vine, they are unable to produce for the Kingdom of God. The vine grower prunes them by cutting them off from the healthy vine for the sake of the branches that are healthy. This is not what the vine grower wants to do, but what He must do in order to keep the healthy branches productive.
As for those who choose to live by faith, Jesus tells us, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Jesus calls us to live our lives by faith in Him not for our glory, but to glorify our Father God. This is what it means to live life abundantly in the Lord.
In closing, the abundant life promised by God is available to all who seek His face through Jesus, His only Begotten Son. For He has already prepared for us more blessings than we can ever imagine. I can testify to that for I have held on of His miracles in my arms named Michael Joseph. By the way, Michael means ‘Who is like God?’ and Joseph means ‘God will add’. I pray that God will add many blessings to all of your lives.
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