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When we think about reconciliation, reconciliation to God is usually not at the top of our list. Personal relationships with family and friends are more likely to come to our minds. Yet, unless we are reconciled first with the Lord, our relationships with others in our lives will be hampered.
It is the nature of our humanness to want to put our own needs first. After all self satisfaction comes natural to us. We want to make sure that the basic needs in life are met such as food, shelter and clothing. The fulfillment of those needs allows us to branch out into our wants, such as hobbies, sports, the arts and personal relationships with others who enjoy the same things that we enjoy in life. If we have children who are dependent on us, then the needs of the family may come first. For couples, pleasing one another may be held in high regard. Or we may be living alone, than friends in our lives may have priority.
Ways of getting our desires met come through many different avenues. One just has to turn on the television to see commercials advertising our desires and needs from toothpaste to the latest new vehicle. Careers can also consume our time as a high priority to enable us to be able to purchase more things to satisfy us. Yet, all of these things are secondary to what the scripture tells us is our most important need.
St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians tells us “be reconciled to God”. Reconciliation to God comes before everything else. Personal relationships, material wealth, recreation, all of these things will pass away one day, but our relationship with the Lord will remain. Even couples when making their marriage vows say, “until death do us part”. Nothing in this world is forever.
This is why Jesus tells us in the gospel of Matthew, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We who call ourselves People of God need to reprioritize our lives. If we are truly People of God, then God must come first in our lives. Above everything else, we need to set aside time to worship the Lord, to study His Word and to pray. These are three easy things that we can do each day of our lives. In fact, they are so easy to do that we often forget how vital they are to our spiritual relationship with the Lord. A healthy spiritual relationship with God can only happen, when pleasing God is the number one priority in our lives.
St. Paul knew the importance of putting the Lord first in his life. For St. Paul Christ was number one in his life. He gave up his position of favor with the Judaic religious elite of his time to live for Christ. He changed from being a persecutor of Christians to becoming a witness for Jesus Christ. This change of heart brought him much suffering, yet, he counted it all joy to be persecuted for Christ’s sake.
One day, we will stand with the saints in glory who like St. Paul suffered much for Christ. In fact, Paul lists some of his sufferings and the sufferings of others for Christ’s sake in his letter to the Corinthians. He states the following: “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” – all these things and much more Paul and the leaders of the early Church suffered for Christ’s sake. Down through the ages and even today throughout the world, there are Christians suffering daily for Christ’s sake.
Today in Saudi Arabia, any citizen who converts from Islam to another religion faces the death penalty. In Columbia, over 400 churches have been forced to close by armed groups and Christians have been killed for speaking out against violence and the drug trade. While in Nigeria, the imposition of Islamic Sharia law in more than 10 states has caused thousands of Christians to flee. In Mexico, evangelical Christians have been mistreated in southern states, such as Chiapas, where thousands have been evicted from their homes, and some pastors have been murdered. In spite of encouraging progress with the U.S relationship and China, it is estimated that as many as 100 million Christians in China are daily at risk of imprisonment and torture for their belief in Christ. The list of persecutions against Christians throughout the world is long and pain filled.
Yet, we here in America in our comfortable homes, with our comfortable lives complain about not having enough time for the Lord. We are too busy. We are too tired. We are too stressed. The excuses we give for not spending time with the Lord seem rather flimsy when we come to the reality that there are brothers and sisters in Christ whose very lives are at stake; because there are Christians who live under circumstances, where reading the Word of God or praying in Jesus’ name can be cause for a death sentence for them. It is time for us Christians in America to grow up and stop whimpering.
The Lord God has poured out His blessings upon us. We have been given so much. In the scriptures it is written to those whom much is given, much is expected. Instead of whining about what we don’t have, we need to start praising the Lord for what He has given to us. The call to fasting and prayer is a call to a repentant and contrite heart. True praise for the Lord begins with a change of heart. The Lord wants us to put Him first in our lives.
This means, we seek God’s will for our lives, instead of following our own whims and desires. The Lord created us to serve Him. As Christians, this means we are to follow the commandments of Christ which are found in Mark chapter twelve, verses 29-31. “Jesus said, ‘The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandments greater than these.’”
When we put the Lord God first in our lives, the fruit that comes from this relationship is love for one another. The fast that produces a deeper relationship with Christ and a love for our neighbors is the fast that the Lord is calling us to do. We can put on all the sackcloth and ashes for the world to see, but if our hearts have not been broken to live each moment for the Lord, than all the outward show of fasting is in vain.
So let us blow the trumpet here at St. Raphael’s and proclaim a fast of a repentant and contrite heart. A heart that is pleasing to the Lord. Then our fast will be received and blessed by God.
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