The Lord promises to "raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations" (Dt 26:19). All you have to do is "be a people peculiarly His own" (Dt 26:18). In other words, you must belong and relate to the Lord not like other people but in a special way. You belong to Him not just because you were created by Him but because you are committed to Him. You are perfected as He is perfect (Mt 5:48), and holy as He is holy (1 Pt 1:16). You have the same relation to the world as He does (1 Jn 4:17).
Because you have the heart and mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), you act and react as He does. You belong to the Lord in such a way that you are His body (1 Cor 12:13). You choose poverty, persecution, and the cross, as He did (2 Cor 8:9; Mt 5:3, 10).
Finally, what definitively proves you have a unique relationship with the Father is your love for enemies (Mt 5:44). Only the Father would create, feed, heal, bless, and be merciful even to those He knew would mercilessly destroy His Son. "His sun rises on the bad and the good, He rains on the just and the unjust" (Mt 5:45). Loving enemies is the most unmistakable indication of being "a people peculiarly His own."
| PRAYER: | Father, You gave everything for me, even Your Son, when I had given nothing for You (see Rm 5:8). Thank You for Your unconditional love. |
| PROMISE: | "Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord." –Ps 119:1 |
| PRAISE: | Pete's co-workers think him strange for his faith, but they quietly come to him when in trouble. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College