we walk by faith not by sight

Ezekiel 17:22-24; Ps 92 Lord, it is good to give thanks to you; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34

Paul states that "we walk by faith, not by sight."

Do we?  Can we honestly say that we walk by faith in every aspect of our life?

As St. Paul reminds us , "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil."


Notice Paul doesn't say whether we perceive it to be good or evil, or think it to be good or evil, but rather that it is either good or evil.

Where do we discover what is good or evil? Certainly it is more than our opinion of things.

How often do decisions in our life boil down to whether we think it is good at the time rather than it being good at all times in all places?

Good and evil is not a matter of our opinions.  God speaks.  God has spoken.  God ha given us a way of knowing.  HE gives us the Teaching office of the church to guide us away form evil and toward the good. The Church helps us interpret revelation, scripture and the natural law.

The game of opinions are over.

Do we walk by faith?  What do we do in the body?  Is it honorable?  Is it pleasing?  Is it good at all times?  We can no longer make excuses.

According to what we do in the body. Our religious life is not just spiritual, it is not just something we think about, it is not mental.  It involves our whole being: body and soul.  We are integrated persons.

We must integrate our faith in all that we do bodily.

Here we discover whether or not we walk by faith and not by sight.
I love to visit with couples when they are getting married.  One of the questions we ask is whether or not they regularly practice their faith.  Instantly, they tell me whether or not they got to mass on Sunday.

Many of they say "yes."  But then later in the questionnaire, I find out they are living together.

I have to remind them that they earlier told me they were practicing their faith but they really aren't.  Faith is more than what we do on Sunday.

Faith is an  every day affair.  We need to embody our private lives in public choices.

As JEsus tells us in the gospel, small things matter.

The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds and becomes the largest of bushes.

The little things that we do not pay attention to are truly where the kingdom is or is not, where it takes root in our lives or our lives fail to be rooted at all in faith.

The kingdom will come.  We can not hinder it.  We can not stop it.  Night and day it grows.

Are we truly apart of it?

We walk by faith, not by sight!  Today examine your life, take notice of those places where you have not included faith, the power of God's word and the guidance of the church to lead you forth.

HOw do you let faith guide your body in this life, the whole body including your sexuality, fertility, jobs, finances, relationships, drinking habits,

In the end the small things may tip the scale, the question is which way will the balance fall?

The mercy of God will be there, but we should not be negligent nor presumptuous. Christ has paid the price, but have we truly received it?