Wednesday September 9th: Choose Life

Salvation’s Road: Hard but not impassable

Luke 6: 20-26

Salvation is a difficult road, but it is not impassable. There are two requirements for this journey: the first is God’s grace which is pure gift, visible in Jesus Christ; the second is the courage to conform to Christ, giving up all the “baggage” that makes the journey seem impossible.

In this gospel account of the Beatitudes, Jesus reveals that the journey requires humility, a desire for righteousness and detachment from the world. As we grow in our knowledge and love for God, we begin to desire his way; we see the things that entangle and keep us separated from him. Deuteronomy 30:19 exhorts us, “Choose life so that you…may live.”

Jesus encourages us to persevere, for many have passed this way before. Trading seventy or eighty years on this earth for an eternity of unimaginable happiness, is evidence of God’s merciful and generous love.

Father, may we persevere along the arduous road of detachment so the woes in this life may become the cause of our joy in the next. Amen.