CHOOSE TODAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE

⏰Friday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (26 June 2020)

📖2Kings 25:1-12; Ps 137:1-2, 3, 4-5 (R.v.6ab); Matt 8:1-4

🎤CHOOSE TODAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE

As he prepared to wound up his ministry, Joshua gathered the people and led them to opt for absolute faithfulness to God (see Josh 24:14ff). It was probably easier for him to convince them because he led by example by choosing to serve the Lord with his family (Josh 24:15).

That was not so for Zedekiah, who was the last king of Judah from 597 BC to about 586 BC. Instead of trusting in God and following him, he chose to become a puppet king loyal to the king of Babylon, despite the harsh treatment Babylon meted out to his people. Hence, he lost both his kingly and spiritual freedom. On one part, he was at the mercy of the Babylonians while losing out of the protection of God.

In that way, Zedekiah represents the people whose one leg is in the Church while the other is with the devil. Such people should be advised to go and find out what happened to Zedekiah in the end. The same devil he served destroyed him once he made a mistake of turning away from him.

Can you not see? The devil is not as merciful as God is. Instead of aligning ourselves with the devil, is it not better we stick to God not minding the difficulty?

Fortunately, he is ever ready to welcome us if we turn back to him. His word in 2 Chron 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The leper in Matt 8:1-4 humbled himself and sought help from Jesus, and indeed, he got his desired healing. His statement, “If you will, you can make me clean” (Matt 8:2) is an expression of that humility and total resignation to the will of God. Nobody can really do that without a deep faith and trust in God.

May your faith in God never waver and may you experience a great transformation in your life, so that with all spirits of lukewarmness eliminated from you, you may become a reference point for testimony like the healed leper. Amen.

Have a miraculous and joyous day. Peace be with you.