The WORD today reminds me that there will be no regrets if you give it all for God.
My uncle tells me of a picture he keeps with him. it’s not a fancy picture taken by an artist using the state of the art camera, but by a normal camera taken by a normal person. It is a picture of me taking free throw while playing basketball in grade school. He does not even remember if the shot went in, but what stuck to him was what I told him after the game– “I gave this my best shot”
I believe God is like this as well. He wont care about the result as much as he does with the process of us obtaining the result. God cares if we give him our best shot, in whatever we do, and not just with the output of the game.
Why? Because God deserves our best. God deserves our all.
This is what Paul did. In the first reading, we see that he is being called to go somewhere else and he probably would not see the people again. But he has confidence as he was about to leave them. He knew that he gave his all. He knew that he gave his best shot. He gave all his strength and effort to proclaim God to them, so he was leaving with confidence and without regrets.
Giving God our best, our all, should give us the confidence in the results.
The gospel reminds us of this as well. Jesus said that he glorified God by doing his works. By following Him. By doing what God wanted him to do. It was not because of the number of miracles or converts. It was because Jesus obeyed God. Jesus gave his best. And that’s what’s important to God.
God expects only our best. He does not compare us with others – with what others give, with the service of others, with what others say. God looks at our heart and checks if what we give him is our best. He is not concerned if the amount we give is just a fraction of what others give. What is important to him is if we give our first fruits, if we give until it hurts, if we give from what we have and need, not just out of our surplus. God does not care of we cannot preach and teach as great preachers do. IF we live our lives in a way pleasing to him, if we teach others the best way we can, then that is more than enough for God. He does not care if we give up a lot for lent or when we sacrifice. What is more important to him is our heart and our intentions as we give these things up. If we give him our best, that is more than enough for Him.
What things do I do for God? What things do I offer him? Do I give him the first fruits. The best of my time, of my energy and my resources, or do I just give him the extras? Do I give him my all or just what I want? How can I give God my best in my life? What can I do to make him feel I am giving him my best? What else can I give and offer to God to show I love Him?
May we be moved and challenged to give God our best shot, our all, and not just to give him out of our surplus or what is comfortable for us.
Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for this chance to ponder upon your Word. Thank you for the reminder. Lord, sorry for the times I do not give you my all. Sorry for the times I do not give you my best. Lord, I ask that you help me have a heart that will give my best to you. Help me not to compare myself with other people, and not just to give you what is surplus, what is comfortable for me to give to you. May I give my best to you – the first fruits of my labor, the best of my time, my service, my resources. Remind me that you are not just concerned on the outcome, but rather on me giving my best every step of the way. May I always give you and offer you my all, my best shot in life. Amen.
Blessed Day!
In Christ,
-g-
Ps
See related reflection:
May 18, 2021
7th Week of Easter - Tuesday; St. John I
FIRST READING
From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.
“But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance; you restored the land when it languished; Your flock settled in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed day by day be the Lord, who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation. God is a saving God for us; the LORD, my Lord, controls the passageways of death.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
ALLELUIA
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”
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