Blessed Are Those Who Keep His Commandments

Prayer-Soldier

Blessed Are Those Who Keep His Commandments

Scripture:

If you will keep the commandments and perform acceptable fidelity for ever, they shall preserve you. He has set water and fire before you: stretch forth your hand to which you will. Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him: For the wisdom of God is great, and he is strong in power, seeing all men without ceasing. The eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him, and he knows all the work of man. He has commanded no man to do wickedly, and he has given no man license to sin. (Ben Sira 15:16-21 [Sirach 15:15-20])

How be it we speak wisdom among the perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world that come to naught? But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written: That eye has not seen, nor ear heard: neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love him. But to us God has revealed them by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:6-10)

Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

You have heard that it was said to them of old: You shall not kill. And whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. If therefore you offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has anything against you; leave there your offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then coming you shall offer your gift. Be at agreement with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Amen I say to you, you shall not go out from thence till you repay the last farthing.

You have heard that it was said to them of old: You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if your right eye scandalize you, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is expedient for you that one of your members should perish, rather than your whole body be cast into hell. And if your right hand scandalize you, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is expedient for you that one of your members should perish, rather than that your whole body go into hell.

And it has been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful, makes her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, commits adultery. Again you have heard that it was said to them of old, you shall not forswear yourself: but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you not to swear at all, neither by heaven for it is the throne of God: Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king: Neither shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil. (Matthew 5:17-37)

Reflection:

We might wonder, how is it that the world is the way that it is? How is it there are wars, terrorism, violence, crimes, famine, and every form of evil which stalks our day when the desire of God is that we live to share the blessings of love? The answer is found in the choices made by each of us and the sin we allow to consume us. We might wonder, why, if we make every effort to do good, still, nothing seems to change? The answer is in what we fail to do in the face of evil. The only way we may turn the tide is committing ourselves to the ways of God and to encourage others to seek and find the blessings He offers. If we are committed, we can bring change, but if we are silent, the evil within the world shall have its way.

We cannot face every evil with sword and arrow, for brute force does not encourage faith. While force may be required to defend the defenseless against the ravages of evil souls, force solves nothing by itself. While it may serve to brunt the force of evil for a time, by itself, it cannot turn an evil heart to the blessings of God. The heart which is crushed by force will not turn to a faith which is true, rather, it will simply harden and look for another time for its cause. The faith of truth can only be encouraged by the example of the faithful, for if faith was meant to be imposed, then, God would not have given us the freewill by which our choices are made. We must consider that He allows us to see the consequences of evil so that we may appreciate what will be left behind by those who choose to follow His ways and seek the path to His kingdom.

By our fruits we shall be known by God and all who observe us. (Matthew 7:16-27, 12:33-37, 11:28-30, Luke 3:7-14, Galatians 5:19-26, James 3:13-1 Cool

It is our choice, then, whether we enable the efforts of the evil one or work to frustrate them. It is our choice, then, whether we endeavor to free ourselves of the slavery evil seeks to impose upon our soul or seek the freedom we may receive by living according to the commandments of God. It is possible, if we choose, to turn from the ways which only serve to bring darkness to the world. This is what we must consider, this is what we must understand; evil may have its way for a time, but our suffering need not be forever; we need only to choose to turn to God and let our fruits be the fruits of love.

If we examine His commandments and the ways taught by His only begotten Son, we see a wondrous wisdom, for it calls us away from the ways of the world; the ways of envy, greed, vengeance, lust and hubris. Instead, the desire of God is that we share in the ways of civility, compassion, charity and love. He calls us to share in unselfish ways which feed the soul rather than the selfish ways which drain the spirit. Let us bring the wisdom of God into our hearts and pray for His forgiveness and the forgiveness of those we harm when we fail.

What Jesus taught was the ways of heaven. The evil one would tempt us to believe that by following the commandments of the Lord, we are missing something. All we miss by following the ways of love are the misery and strife which is brought on by ways of indifference, selfishness, and hate. Let us, then, seek the ways of the wisdom of God. Let us seek the ways of His Holy Word. As we make this choice, we add to the voices and the hands which bring blessings to the world.

Questions for further reflection:

What can be seen through our works and interactions with others?

What wisdom do we find in His commandments?

In what ways to do we hurt others and ourselves when we fail to keep the commandments of God?

May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier