total abandonment
"Abram went as the Lord directed him." —Genesis 12:4
When Abram was seventy-five years old, the Lord told him to take his family and all his possessions, leave his homeland, and go to a place which would later be shown him (Gn 12:1, 4-5). Abram obeyed. What would you do if you were given a similar command?
The Lord commanded Joseph in a dream: "Get up, take the child and His mother, and flee to Egypt" (Mt 2:13). "Joseph got up and took the child and his mother and left that night for Egypt" (Mt 2:14). Would you obey as Joseph obeyed?
The Lord told Mary, a teenage girl, to give up her future plans and conceive God by the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:31ff). Can the Lord do anything He wants with your future?
Because of your obedient love for the Lord, are you willing to move, move immediately, and move everything? When we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, we abandon ourselves to Him. We invite Him to do anything He wants with us at any time. We "live no longer" for ourselves "but for Him" (2 Cor 5:15). Under His lordship, we have lost our lives (see Lk 9:24). "It is no longer we who live, but Christ Who lives in us" (Gal 2:20, our transl).
Prayer: Jesus, You gave Your life for me. I give my life for You.
Promise: "If you want to avoid judgment, stop passing judgment." —Mt 7:1
Praise: Phil took his whole family to another state to answer God's call to build community.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, January 4, 2001
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 24, 2001