I was watching a video of Bishop Sheen the other day and he was talking about the differences in the way God and Satan speak to you before you commit a sin.
God says, “Don’t do this.” We hear His voice in a demanding, overbearing way.
Satan says, “Do it!” We hear his voice as that of a friend.
We often see God’s commands as a restriction of freedom. We see Satan’s nudges as an invitation to get what we truly want, what will really make us happy.
The truth is…we don’t trust God enough. We don’t trust that His way will be rewarding, freeing, or bring us joy.
The reason we don’t is because God’s ways seem so hard, so difficult to live out. Hard things seem to stifle freedom in our mind and so, consequently, we believe that the “easy” way will be most fulfilling.
It’s only when we become trapped by the consequences of our sin that we see that there is no true freedom to be found in bucking against God. Then, we are left with a string of regrets and a big pit to try to dig ourselves out of.
Remember, to live out the Christian life well, it will seem hard if we try to do it on our own power—we need God’s grace to strengthen us.
There’s not a Saint in Heaven, Catholic Pilgrims, that regrets trusting in God’s Will even when it was hard. It will always be worth it.
Have a blessed Tuesday.
