Yesterday when I was doing my weekly scripture reading, I found that I all too often don’t exhibit the traits describing love, which are the traits of God. It made me reflect on the fact that I also all too often have evil thoughts, and even if I haven’t act on those, a part of me wanted to at points. It is good and right to want to purge such thoughts from ever occurring in the first place, to not be led into temptation.
During the journey of our lives it’s impossible to never be tempted, to never have evil thoughts. Especially if we’re acting of our own accords. As humans, with our base selfish nature it’s going to be a problem, and one we can and must overcome.
A friend last evening struck me by putting it a beautiful way: “we are all lost in darkness, unable to save ourselves, until we realize we are in need of a Savior, and have grace given to us.”
These are very powerful words. Darkness fills this world, and it seeps into us by nature. The Devil has set up the world so it does just this. But we can’t fight this on our own, we are powerless against it excepting for the grace of our Savior.
He covers us like a blanket, or more aptly like plate armor and a shield. When evil comes at us, whether from our thoughts or from outside temptations, He can repel those away. It’s the only way to fight, but fortunately it is perfectly effective.
With this powerful knowledge there are three ways we can allow His grace to fill us, to help us hold fast to what is right and true, and by proxy keep evil away from us:
- Study the Word. The word of God is powerful, and the more you study in it, the more you’ll be thinking about it. The more you’re thinking about what God desires, the less you’ll give into your own desires which may conflict with His will.
- Surround yourself with people of faith who will hold you accountable. This is one of the harder things to do, as it can be uncomfortable. But it’s also imperative. We all too often can’t recognize failings within ourselves and rely on brothers and sisters to help us right our paths. They’ll do so out of encouragement, not out of malice, so recognize the difference.
- Praying for God to intervene in all aspects of our lives is always fruitful. Pray to thank Him. Pray just to say hello to Him. Pray that He might keep Himself in our thoughts and deeds constantly. It changes the world.
Just some basic thoughts for today which I hope will be fruitful for both me and you on this Thanksgiving weekend. I hope it helps. Deus vult!
And let’s not forget the Lord working through the Sacraments, especially Confession and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They are needed to feed the soul just as much as reading the Good Book, prayer and fellowship.
We need that full-spectrum help to keep our souls alive and helping our loved to stay on the straight and narrow. Thank you for reminding us of that need. May you and yours have a Blessed Thanksgiving!
Well, that didn’t last long. Nice effort though.