Click here for today’s Scripture readings.
Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
Matthew 11:28-30
Deep down, I think we all have a hero complex: we want to save the world. Wanting to save the world is a good thing! After all, God does call us to proclaim the Good News, help the less fortunate, fight to end injustice, love our neighbor. But often times, I think we forget where this call comes from and by Whose power (grace) we perform it. We forget that, although we want to save the world, we are not the Savior of the world. That title belongs to Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get caught up in wanting to be all things, for all people. I get in my head that since God gave me this mission, this call, it all depends on me. Then I get overwhelmed at how daunting the task at hand seems. I start to question myself: I can’t do this; I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have the gifts and abilities for this. What if I fail?
The burden of trying to hold up the world is just too much.
God just looks down and smiles, reaches out his hand, and says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
It is not our job to hold up the world by ourselves. God has that under control. As the song says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” And whatever calling, mission, vocation God has given each of us, we do not have to do that by our own power either. God is walking with us, helping us bear the load, leading us, working with us to accomplish His work. God will provide. What is most important is that we are living our lives in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and in tune with the Spirit.
In the First Reading, Isaiah reminds us that “Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth”; for it is God who has “accomplished all we have done.” It is not about what we can do, but what God will do through us. We are but instruments, through which God sounds the melodies of His message.
So today, be humble. Let go, and let God be the hero.
- Tricia Lothschutz
