While it seems to be a contradiction, what this passage indicates is a critical point for leading a faithful life. When we try to walk a righteous path, the world threatens us with death in terms of the worldly comforts and easy-going way of life we enjoyed in the past.
This is because the world of the past does not agree with righteousness and moral principles.
However, the moment you choose to walk a path based on moral principles, you open the door to a new world that welcomes you if you are willing to keep walking. But at some point you must also close the door to the old world, the world that is bereft of absolute values, yet deceitfully seems to be the source of life as we know it.
This is the dilemma that occurs within us that Jesus was referring to. But once we can shut the door to that old world, losing our life as we knew it, we realize that what we thought was life was actually the path of our own spiritual destruction and the new path is one that offers us liberation.
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| Passing Hyas Lake, WA in May 2013 |
I couldn't agree more. Like Barack Obama said, "If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress".
ReplyDeleteI just wanna share another sentence of mine that my mother once asked me to remember for life, " Always be good to others and forgive whenever you can".
Because of all these guiding statement, I also started doing reflection in life.
Thank you for sharing these wise words. I feel they are good words to reflect on. I also like to reflect on the words of my role models and especially the teachings of great faith traditions.
DeleteI also like that you mentioned the importance to reflect on the words that guide us. By reflecting we can see if our lifestyle is embodying the words we want to uphold.