Thursday September 7, 2023

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“To get out of hesitancy mode and step forward in God’s will, we must do what love would do.”

Good News Reflection for:

Thursday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
September 7, 2023

Today’s Prayer:

My Lord, give me the necessary strength and faith to leave behind everything that blocks me from following You and from letting You work in me the wonderful change You want to make in my life. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

Colossians 1:9-14
Ps 98:2-6
Luke 5:1-11
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090723.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-september-7-2023

Attaining full knowledge of God’s will

In our first reading today, Saint Paul says that we should be filled with knowledge of God’s will and have all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This eliminates doubts about the right decisions to make. It prevents misinterpretations of the signs he gives. It enables us to think with the mind of Christ, replacing what we assume to be right with what the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, knows is right.

God usually doesn’t give us knowledge of the future, but he does always give us knowledge of his will. He never wants us to be confused about his will. He wants us to have his wisdom and his understanding so that we can walk in a manner that imitates Jesus. But how can we accomplish such complete knowledge on this side of heaven’s door?

Notice that Paul connects “every good work bearing fruit” with “growing in the knowledge of God.” The more we do good works — imitating Jesus — the more we grow in knowledge of God, and we gain more understanding of his will, and it becomes easier to imitate Jesus. Instead of waiting to understand God’s will before we act in a Christ-like manner, we should first choose to do it, because the activity builds understanding.

Normally though, we hesitate when we’re unsure of God’s will. It seems wise to do nothing until his will becomes clear to us. Waiting is better than going off in the wrong direction or making a mistake, right?

If discernment about God’s will doesn’t come quickly, it could be because God is saying, “Wait, slow down, don’t move ahead until I make my directions clear to you.” Or it could mean that we’re not seeing what God has placed right in front of our faces; we’re not hearing his voice because our will disagrees with his will and we don’t want to believe the truth, or because fear is telling us a false message about it.

God’s will is always summed up in one, simple directive that Jesus emphasized: Love. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love everyone else as you love yourself. To get out of hesitancy mode and step forward in God’s will, we must do something — we must do what love would do. We must make a decision that will bear good fruit. If it honors God, if it is loving to others, and if it will benefit our eternal souls, we should step forward in faith trusting that the good work we do IS God’s will.

If this accidentally leads us away from his perfect, preferred plan, we can be pleased that at least we’re not sinning. God is certainly very pleased with that! In our act of doing good, even if we make a mistake in interpreting God’s will, we discover God’s will. We learn from doing. We learn from the good fruits that are produced by our efforts and we also learn from our mistakes.

If we truly desire to do God’s will and follow his guidance, we are directable. He gently but firmly steers us back into the plan that he designed. Even our mistakes become blessings!

For more help with this, download my collection of reflections entitled “Knowing God’s Will and Doing It Well“, published by Catholic Digital Resources: catholicdr.com/e-books/knowing-gods-will/ or read our WordByte called: “How can you be sure what is God’s will?” @ https://wordbytes.org/master-needs-you/what-is-gods-will/

© 2023 by Terry A. Modica

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