Philippians 1:6: “I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began the gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Today's episode talks about how we are all on our own journey. We are on different journeys and yet there is no right or wrong journey. There isn't one way to get to the end. It also reminds us that everyone is going through something and we probably don't know the whole story. Be patient with people, including yourself. It also reminds us that nothing good comes from comparing our journey to other's journey. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
We Are All On Our Own Journey
Philippians 1:6: “I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began the gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
I have always really liked the idea that if things aren’t good then God’s not done yet. I have heard this many places, yet I was surprised to see it in the Bible. I think this a great reminder that we are all on a spiritual journey. I was talking to someone last night who was saying we tend to compare ourselves to others often. We tend to look at someone else and want what they have. She was saying we do with our spirituality also and I hadn’t really thought of it like that. Now that I am thinking about it, I can see how that is true.
We look at others around us in church and we compare ourselves to them. Whether we mean to do it or not. We look at the person saying the rosary before mass and we think he/she is so much holier than we are. We look at the person who is coming into mass late or leaving early and we think we are definitely holier than they are. However, we don’t know anyone’s story. That person in church saying the rosary, that might be their first time saying the rosary, or they may have just lost someone or are going through something really difficult and they know they needed something more. The person coming in late or leaving early my have a job nearby and are spending their lunch hour coming to church, but they only have an hour.
We can’t compare our journey to someone else’s. We have all been through different things in our lives, and that helps to shape who we are. We have all had different upbringings in the faith, and so we may have different habits, but that doesn’t make one of us more holy than another. God is not calling us all onto the same path. If you look at the saints they all took different paths and yet they all arrived in the same place.
Sometimes we can think, or at least I sometimes think, that if I get the formula right I will become a Saint. If I can figure out how many Our Father’s and Hail Mary’s I need to say then I will be set. God is forever telling me this is not the case. He is telling me there is no one way to get to heaven. There is not special formula or checklist of things that we need to do to get there. Jesus said we need to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Jesus said all the law of the prophets hang on these two commandments. Jesus did not tell us how we should love God, just that we should love God. If we want to show Him our love by praying all day, we can do that. If we want to show Him our love by working with the poor, we can do that. If we want to show Him our love by treating our family and loved ones with love, we can do that.
Sometimes we can also compare our lives to others and think that people who aren’t struggling must be holier than we are. They must be close with God. In other words, we believe we are struggling because we are not faithful enough, or we don’t trust enough, or we don’t love God enough. This is not true. We don’t have to look any further than Job in the Bible to see this is not true. Job was the most faithful and righteous person on earth and yet Satan gave him a really hard time. Job was miserably sick and lost everything he cared about, except his wife. We don’t have to look further than job and yet the Lord didn’t stop with Job, he points out a few times in the Bible that we are not sick or going through a hard time because we are not faithful.
If you look at anyone who is doing the will of God an proclaiming his word in a powerful way, they have all been through some tough times. One way that we build our faith and trust in God is by going through experiences where we have to have faith and trust in God. Faith can be like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. God doesn’t allow things to happen to us because we aren’t holy enough, He allows things to happen to build us up and to prepare us for whatever He has in store for us.
Comparing ourselves to others will not do anything good for us. It will steal our joy and make us feel “not good enough.” This is not what God wants for us. He wants us to remember that we are all on our own journey and that we have no idea what someone else’s journey has been. We can’t know just by looking at someone what they are going through. They may look fine, but their whole world might be falling apart. We just never know. I remind you of this so you can hopefully stop comparing yourself to others. I also tell you this so that when you see someone being unkind, or acting a way you don’t like, remember they could be going through something.
I remember a story of a man on a subway. He had several kids and they were acting up and super hyper on the train. They were starting to annoy the people around them and the father wasn’t doing anything about it. The father just sat there in a daze. The person telling the story was thinking to himself, “Why doesn’t this father do anything?” However, instead of saying that, he decided to ask the man if he was ok. He found out that the man was on his way home from the hospital. He has just lost his wife and he was trying to figure out how to tell his children their mom died. You never know what other’s are going through.
To get back to the verse from today, “I’m fully convinced that the One who began the gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” St. Paul was speaking to those in Philippi and he is talking to you too. God will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes that process will feel great, and sometimes that process will be painful. Just know it is an ongoing process. There will never be at time on this side of heaven when we can say, we have reached the end. God is finished with me. I am perfected. It is a process, it is a journey and it is one we are on for the long haul. This is meant to be reassuring. This is meant to remind you this is not a sprint, it is a marathon. I know you may feel like you are no where near where you want to be on this journey. That is ok, its a long journey and you have time. Just know that you are where you are supposed to be. You are right where God knew you would be.
If you want to be further along, have a conversation with God. Ask Him what He would like you to do. Ask Him how you can grow closer to Him. The Lord is always inviting us into a deeper relationship with Him. He is always inviting us closer, but not in an impatient way. He patiently invites us into a closer relationship with Him and then guides us at the pace we set. God is a gentleman, and He lets us choose our speed. If you aren’t happy with the speed at which you are growing, talk to the Lord about it. He will help you adjust your speed.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, help us to learn not to compare ourselves with others. Help us to remember when we are tempted to judge others that everyone is going through something, and we might not know the whole story. Please help us to give people the benefit of the doubt. Lord, we want what you want for us. If your will differs from our will please help us change our will. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you have been wondering what mentoring is like or have been thinking about checking it out I want you to know I have posted a link to last week’s mentoring, Week #1 of the Emotions series on my personal and work Facebook pages, Catherine Duggan or Finding True North Coaching if you would like to check it out. I will also place a link for it in the show notes. (Click Here to watch the mentoring session) I hope you check it out and then join us for the rest of the series. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor or our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the potter. You are the clay. You are the clay. Each of you I have made a unique vessel. My favorite vessels are those that are still on my wheel. I kiss them with my own breath as I turn the wheel. They are my babies. I let the wheel stick in one place until I need to pick up again. The pauses are necessary for them to learn and grow in the spot I have left them in. I have not abandoned them.”