God's mark of ownership: the Spirit

WORD 2day: Friday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 14, 2022: Ephesians 1: 11-14; Luke 12: 1-7

At times it remains a valid question to ask, whether people really wish to be happy or not? A person is one moment happy and the very next moment he or she is down in spirits, with concerns that they alone know. It seems like, people choose to be unhappy and choose to make others unhappy! While there are a thousand reasons to thank God for, we choose those few things that can make us feel miserable. While there are myriads of ways to create joy around us, we choose to make life so despicable for ourselves and all others around! If I need to grow into a real child of God, I need to beware of this tendency within me and of people around me with such a tendency!

A child of God does not allow worries to overpower him or her, a child of God is not anxious, a child of God is fearless. Do not fear, do not be afraid... Jesus repeatedly assures us not to be guided by fear. When we are filled with true convictions and not convenient compromises, when we are taken up with absolute commitment to the life task entrusted to us, we will be truthful to God who has created us, who has chosen us in Christ, and sealed us in the Spirit. That truth will indeed set us free (cf. Jn 8:32), and we shall be fearless.

When we live by truth, we will not fear anyone or anything. Whereas when we have teachings of our own making or forces that operate us from the dark, then we will be struggling and striving to prove ourselves and dominate others: it may look like we possess some extraordinary power and capability, but it is actually slavery that seeks the promotion of the self and not the glory of God!

We can arrive at this clarity and conviction only by the power of the Spirit, the Spirit of Ownership that God has poured into our hearts, that which we need to hold on to as the mark of our belonging to God. I need to desire and wish that God owns me completely, directs me, controls me, uses me and leads me! For that I need to become aware of the Spirit in me, the mark of God's ownership!