Everyday Faith

Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

Reflection 221: Glorying in Yourself

365 Days with Saint Faustina

Sometimes, those who are quite “religious” speak of many “religious” things. They speak pious language and talk about holy things. But in the end, it may be that all they say and do is actually said and done as a way of glorifying themselves in the sight of others. This is the struggle of the Pharisees. Sadly, those who struggle with this, just like the Pharisees, may even be fooling themselves into thinking they are exceptionally close to God. But their pride has blinded them. The goal of our lives must be to humbly point to God and offer all glory to Him, not to ourselves. This can be very hard, but when done well, as an act of the utmost humility and truth, we realize that God actually does draw us into His glory and allows us to share in the honor that we owe to Him. Only in this way do we come to realize our true dignity as His sons and daughters. And in humbly pointing to God in all things, we are also lifted on high by God Himself.

Are you able to give all glory to God rather than trying to lift yourself up for others to see? Reflect upon this in all honesty and humility. The problem is that if you lift yourself on high, you will not be able to lift yourself very high and will actually find yourself in a more humiliated state than you could have imagined. Lift the Lord on high and point to Him as the source of all goodness and leave the elevation of your own life up to Him. He will raise you higher than you could ever do yourself.

Lord, I pray for the gift of humility.  I pray that in my humility I will see the truth and proclaim only that truth.  I especially pray that I will be able to see the truth that all good things come from You and are accomplished by You.  All glory be to You my Lord!  Jesus, I trust in You

My Personal Reflection:

This one really spoke to me today because recently I had an encounter with a young lady on social media who just kept pushing that I wasn't really a believer in God, and actually tried to "test me" using The Ten Commandments. 

She was taking scripture literally without trying to understand it in the context that is was written (and context is so important when reading Scripture!). To her, it was black and white and not open to discussion or interpretation. She was actually giving out wrong advice based on her views and HER interpretation of Scripture.

I tried to be nice. At first I blocked her and ended our conversation because I was getting very frustrated and she had triggered my anxiety due to a topic we were discussing. So, the next day, I unblocked her and resumed our conversation. I swear it was like talking to a brick wall! I think I would've had better luck explaining things to our dogs!! At that point I really did have to stop our interaction and I blocked her once again. I haven't tried to speak with her again.

Today's Divine Mercy reflection gave me something to think about. And no, it was not to show mercy and go back to try once again explain things to her. For some people, there really is no way of convincing them to think anything other than what they believe. To me, it seems  that perhaps she was trying to glorify herself using the guise of belief of black and white scripture. That was sort of what turned me off for my faith for quite some time. People who call themselves "Christian" can be some of the most hypocritical people in the world. And I'm not really sure why that is. No person is better than someone else because of their spiritual beliefs. I'm no better than anyone else. I'm weak, I sin, I cuss, I take the Lord's name in vain...(I know..I know... 😲)

As I decide to take steps back to my faith, I will not flaunt it, I will not claim that I am such a perfect model of Christianity, because that would be a lie (and does it not tell us in the Ten Commandments that we are not to lie?!). Yes, I have flooded my social media (to an extent) with my new blogs and my thoughts... but I'm not doing it to show off. I am doing it as a humble expression of myself and hoping that maybe what I say may help someone else. (Plus it helps me to process what I'm learning because I continuously am repeating it by writing.)

That's how it should be....our words should be used to lift up, not condemn. We are NOT God, it is not up to us to bully someone into feeling that their faith or belief is not enough. We get enough of that from our negative self-talk (well, maybe not all of you....). I see my daughter struggling with a recent break up between her and her fiancee of two years. She constantly asks what she did wrong, why wasn't she good enough? Do we REALLY need to inflict that pain upon others for our own glorification!?!? 

Everything I have read and written today has been about facing our faith in our every day lives. And I've already quoted this verse a couple of times today, but it's worth repeating...over and over and over... 

"Let the words of my mouth meet with your favor, keep the thoughts of my heart before You, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:15 (NAB)

Sending Peace and Love to you all!💜💙💖🕊♱

Helpful links:

https://divinemercy.life/2019/08/09/reflection-221-glorying-in-yourself-2/