Tag Archives: Religion

Part 6: Grant Me The Grace To Desire It

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The last section of The Litany of Humility takes the desires from the first section and shows that it is not enough to be delivered from them.  Once we are delivered from a self centered desire we could easily slip into a state of self satisfaction and miss the point.  We are delivered for a reason beyond seeking our own comfort.  We are delivered for service to others.

A true servant places a priority on the needs of those being served.  We all have experienced good and bad service at a restaurant or some other establishment.  Some servers put their hearts into it and leave their customers feeling well cared for.  Other servers just go through the motions to get a paycheck.  They really don’t care about customers.  Christians are called to service to God and to others.  Are we placing God and others in a place of priority?  Or, are we placing priority on making sure we are comfortable?  Godly humility seeks to be delivered from certain desires and fears in order that we may set self aside and prioritize others.

For example, “Lord Jesus, deliver me from the desire to be esteemed and the fear of being forgotten so that others may be esteemed more than I.”  All three parts go together.  The humility is a prerequisite for Christian service.  None of this can be accomplished apart from God’s empowering grace.  Therefore, the litany includes, “Grant me the grace to desire it.”  We won’t even want to seek humility without the prompting of God’s grace.  We must pray for the desire to even begin to seek true humility because it isn’t natural.  True humility is spiritual.

Part 2: The Desire of Being Loved

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Don’t we all desire to be loved?  Love is a good thing, right?  Why would anyone want to be delivered from this desire?  The prayer is not asking for deliverance from love, but from an unhealthy desire to be loved.  People do all sorts of destructive things to themselves and to others in an attempt to be loved.  I can recall times from my own life where this desire got me into big trouble, including choosing the wrong people to attach to and doing bad things in order to feel their so-called love.

There is nothing wrong with loving and being loved by others.  The problem is that sometimes we use other human beings to try and fill a void that can only be satisfied by complete trust in God.  Also, the desire to be loved can supersede the desire to love.  In other words, it becomes all about me.  I see this frequently in my clients when their relationships revolve around the question, “What’s in this marriage for me?”  I also see it in church goers when the emphasis becomes, “Jesus is mine!” or, “What can God do for me?”

Even the desire to be loved by God can become an idol.   God doesn’t want us sitting around soaking up his love.  We are called to take that love and spread it around to others, not hoard it for ourselves.  The goal of a Christian is not to search around looking for a church where we feel the most loved and accepted.  The goal is to love as Christ loves.  Look at the cross.  Jesus empties himself when he loves.  Jesus said, “Pick up your cross and follow me,” not “Go find the softest pew and most accepting congregation.”  Giving love is the goal.  A desire to be loved gets in the way of giving love.  Imagine Jesus throwing down his cross and saying, “Forget this, you people are too mean and you’re not loving me.  I’m out of here!”

From the desire of being loved, deliver me, Jesus, so that I may love as you love.  This is not easy.  I need your grace.

Jesus Vs. Religion: Do We Have To Choose?

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Make your choice!  Jesus or religion!  I understand where this idea comes from.  Partly, it comes from Jesus’ condemnation of religious hypocrisy, particularly hypocritical religious leaders.  It also stems from certain theologies that dismiss the role of works in salvation.  After all, if we can leave works out of the equation, we can also leave out any structure.  If we don’t need any structure, we don’t need any religious organization.  The result is a “Jesus and me” approach where it really doesn’t matter where (or even if) I go to church, just as long as I believe in Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.  And I certainly don’t need any stuffy, hypocritical church leaders coming between me and my Jesus.

Additionally, many Christians believe that the Church is an invisible body.  In other words, since only God knows the heart, no one really knows who is saved and who is lost.  Therefore, the Body of Christ cannot really be seen.  It exists in a purely spiritual, invisible form.  Religion, however, is visible.  Religion includes certain works and structures and visible manifestations of the faith.  Consequently, some Christians conclude that being a Christian is incompatible with “religion.” But, is this really the case?

Jesus did indeed condemn religious hypocrisy.  However, he did not condemn the Jewish religion.  In fact, Jesus told the people, “Do what the religious leaders tell you, just don’t act the way they act, for they sit on the seat of Moses.”  In other words, Jesus recognized that the religious leaders had valid authority.  Judaism is a valid religion and Jesus confirmed its validity.  Jesus was also a faithful Jew.  Jesus said, “I did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.” Jesus did not destroy religion; he took it to the next level.

Jesus told Peter, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.  And I will give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Jesus created a new sacrifice and a new seat of authority.  The seat of Peter picks up where the seat of Moses leaves off.  Jesus created the offices of pope and bishop.  He obviously intended to establish a visible religion with authority and structure.  Peter became the prime minister for Jesus.  We can see the apostles exercising apostolic succession by filling the office left vacant by Judas.

Being a Christian is not a matter of choosing between religion or Jesus.  Being a Christian is a both/and proposition.  Jesus and his religion go together.  The purpose of the Church is to make Christ visible to the world.  The Church is the Body of Christ.  Unfortunately, what the world often sees is a divided church.  But a house divided against itself cannot stand and does not provide a strong witness.  This is why it is crucial for the church to be united and organized.  The Catholic religion is the realization of the visible, organized, authoritative Church that Jesus established 2000 years ago.  The Church is a visible city on a hill, not a candle under a bushel or a buffet of options.

Do some Catholic religious leaders behave badly?  Yes.  Do some Catholics become so “religious” that they lack a relationship with Christ?  Yes.  Are a lot of Catholics hypocrites?  Yes.  None of this is unique to Catholicism.  None of it negates the authenticity of the Church that Jesus built on Peter any more than the behavior of Judas negates the authenticity of apostolic authority.  Don’t leave Peter because of Judas.  Don’t leave the religion of Catholicism to find Jesus.  You don’t have to reinvent your own Christian religion.  It’s already been prepared for you by the Master.