Daily Reflections ...

Authentically living a life of faith; committed to following in Christ’s footsteps and actively sharing the Good News can be a challenge. Wearing our faith on our sleeve, so to speak, means opening ourselves up to being judged by ourselves and others as to whether our words and deeds are a true reflection of our beliefs. To put it another way… whether we are the wheat or the weeds.

What makes this challenging is our humanity. We all have a story. We all have experiences, fears, anxieties, dreams and even personality traits that are also represented in our words and deeds.

Today’s Gospel therefore reminds us to be gracious and patient with ourselves and others, as it’s not always easy to see clearly what is worthy of God’s judgement and what is not. This is not to be confused with excusing sinfulness and poor choices. Rather, Jesus is reminding us to leave the role of Judge to God, lest we condemn unjustifiably. Instead, we should grow together, doing our best to be forgiving, supportive and faithful, acknowledging that we can’t possibly see the full picture, yet humbly encouraging each other to live our faith in its fullness.

Take some time today to consider those in your life that may be needing support, patience and understanding and how you might intentionally grow beside them.

by Steph Unger