My Father's Will
The Source of Freedom and Peace
Written by: Michael Pavano
God made known to me, what true love consists in and gave light to me about how, in practice, to give proof of it to Him. True love of God consists in carrying out God's will. To show God our love in what we do, all our actions, even the least, must spring from our love of God. (279) - Diary of Saint Faustina
Hillary Scott & The Scott Family - Thy Will
One passage from the Gospels that I find most shows Christ's humanity comes from His time spent praying in the Garden before He was to be sentenced to death on a cross. This was truly the moment of calm before the storm from a storytelling perspective, but for Jesus, this was a horrifying moment that was anything but calm. He was in agony thinking of His torture to come. In prayer, He begged the Father to take this pain, take this responsibility from Him... But only by His Father's Will. Jesus being human of course did not want to experience pain and death, but He refused to put Himself before His Father and before us. He died for us because it was the Will of the Father. Truly amazing, that in that moment of agony, Jesus prayed that His Father's Will be done before all else. There is so much for us to take away from this, but I want to focus today on how following God and His Holy Will can allow us to experience true freedom and true peace even in the midst of the most difficult moments.
I had a conversation with a co-worker a few days ago about God. He believed that God exists but had some challenges committing Himself to this God. His major complaint which I have heard many times before is that if God is personal, if God is a loving God, then why does He allow bad things to happen to good people. How is that a God he can follow? It's a valid point especially with all the horrendous things that have happened throughout history even in recent history. I had another family member that after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary said that God cannot be real because otherwise this would not have happened. How do you respond? What are your thoughts on all of this? I don't pretend to have an answer to this question. Sometimes we must learn to live with the mysteries of God. What's most important for us to remember is that God loves us and that He has a special place planned for those who believe in and follow Him. But it's also important to remember that this is a broken world.
My co-worker believed he had an answer. We have free will to do whatever we desire, so if we choose to do bad things, God will punish us, but if we choose to do good things, God will reward us. I disagree but there is one valid truth in this. We do have free will and from free will comes natural consequences. If someone decides to take the life of another, do you believe this was God's Will? Did God pull the trigger? The answer is no. I also don't believe that God will punish us here on Earth based on our choices. Whether we choose to follow God or not will have natural consequences on Earth and Divine consequences when we leave this Earth, whether we spend eternity with God or Eternity separated from God. The Bible teaches us that God Will's the good of the people, and I believe this with all my heart. We may suffer here which Jesus promised. Scripture says, "Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.…'" There will be suffering in this life, but God desires that He walk with us through the suffering. Knowing this is our greatest source of peace.
Following the Will of the Father is also our greatest source of freedom. You hear a lot these days that freedom is merely doing what you want to do, but in the life of Faith, freedom frees you to be your true self and to align your Will with God's Will. In my life, there has been so much that I thought I couldn't live without, video games being one example. In reality, I must be OK with the idea of living without all worldly things because I am destined for the things of Heaven. I have often felt trapped into needing video games or needing to overeat or needing to engage in television or videos that only hurt me because I was stressed out or just feeling lost. But in reality, I have the freedom to choose God rather than these things. If I did only what I wanted, I would be at home playing video games or stuffing myself at an all you can drink milkshake buffet all day. That won't save me, that won't help me. Only God's Will can save me and lead me along righteous paths.
People have often told me that following God will only lead you into this "safe zone," but the more I sought out the Will of God, the further I delved from my comfort zone. I went to college, got my first job, and had a family out of God's calling me forward. Following the Will of God will lead us only to good because that is all God desires for us. Happiness is fleeting and following after the righteous path may come with sorrow but in the end, it is for our greatest good.
The final point I wish to make is that God gave us free will. He does not force us to love Him. He does not force us to follow Him, but it's through following Him that we can live our greatest life and become our greatest selves. I will forever choose to serve my loving God rather than be a slave to sin, hate, and the things of the world. There is no greater freedom than being able to be your true self and to love freely as God would have you love.
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