{"id":10240,"date":"2016-02-11T19:44:58","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T23:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=10240"},"modified":"2016-02-11T19:44:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T23:44:58","slug":"the-only-a-you-need-is-the-a-in-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2016\/02\/the-only-a-you-need-is-the-a-in-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"The Only “A” You Need Is the “A” in JESUS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Just a quick post about the readings for today.<\/p>\n

The first reading s really personally meaningful t me.\u00a0I looked at it every day when\u00a0I was quittng drinking:<\/p>\n

I have set before you life and death,
\nthe blessing and the curse.
\nChoose life, then,
\nthat you and your descendants may live[.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that\u2019s what has happened for me in sobriety:\u00a0I have more life now. More time.\u00a0I work more;\u00a0I pray more.\u00a0I have more friends and more responsibilities.\u00a0I have a life that is better spiritually\u2013but also better on paper. The sociological metrics have improved. My health is better, my bank account is\u2026 existent, my self-reported happiness would be through the roof\u00a0if anybody asked me, probably my coat is glossy and my paw-pads are firm.<\/p>\n

We hear a lot these days about the way Christian faith can give you more. Attendance at religious services correlates with lower rates of addiction, higher rates of lasting marriage, even,\u00a0I hear, better sex. (I wouldn\u2019t know, see below for more\u2026.) Religion can seem useful. Christian colleges often talk this way when they recruit students: We will prepare you to take on the leadership role in our society that your talents deserve. We will, at the very least, help you get a better job.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Gospel reading turns this promise on its head.<\/p>\n

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
\nbut whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There will be places\u2013maybe many, many places\u2013where your Christian faith will make your life look worse on paper, not better. You\u2019ll feel guilty about it (if I had fewer kids I could give them more of my love and attention\u2013wait, did\u00a0I just think that? I\u2019m supposed to be grateful!<\/em>) and you will feel like you\u2019ve let down the people you love, who want you to do well. They want you to have the American dream and instead you\u2019re, like, wondering if you\u2019ll ever have enough money to live in a place where they let you keep cats. You will have to give up things that are good for you by every metric you have been trained to recognize: things that make you happier, make you more stable, make you more normal.<\/p>\n

Where are we preparing ourselves and the rising generation for the humiliating losses they will suffer in the name of the Gospel? Are we acting to shelter and console people who make these sacrifices now? Are we able to recognize faith\u2013including our own faith\u2013when it doesn\u2019t visibly improve behavior or job performance? (Sebastian totally brought down the average at that monastery<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I\u00a0have in many ways been healed through faith. But in other ways\u00a0I think my life may look worse, by secular standards, than\u00a0it would in the alternate realty where\u00a0I never converted. St Paul says<\/a>, \u201cIf in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied\u2026..\u201d It is only trust in God\u2013in His mercy, in His promises, in Jesus\u2019 resurrection and our own\u2013that can justify my choices, and make them seem something other than absurd.<\/p>\n

(post title<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a quick post about the readings for today. The first reading s really personally meaningful t me.\u00a0I looked at it every day when\u00a0I was quittng drinking: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live[.] And that\u2019s what has happened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7,10,177],"tags":[11,30,55,1265,57,235],"class_list":["post-10240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-catholic-whatnot","category-mackerel-snapping","category-self-obsessed","category-too-much-is-never-enough","tag-his-banner-over-me-was-love","tag-mackerel-snapping-2","tag-prayers-to-ven-matt-talbot","tag-self-obsessed","tag-sweet-smell-of-success","tag-twisty-little-passages"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Only "A" You Need Is the "A" in JESUS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just a quick post about the readings for today. 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