This guest blog post was written by one of my favorite young adult writers, Annie, a few years ago. It is perfect for today:
I used to think the most important thing for a Christian was to put other people’s needs in front of their own. This seemed to be the sign of a real Christian. After all, aren’t we supposed to make sacrifices for others? Shouldn’t we be out serving the poor and taking care of the emotionally impoverished and allowing others to draw strength from us and by the way, here is all my energy and let me just drain more blood out of my veins? I made that sentence a little frantic on purpose to show how much this doesn’t work. Self-sacrifice is beautiful and there is definitely an element of it being asked of each one of us, but to make other people your first priority is actually terribly wrong. The correct order of priorities, theologically speaking, is God; then yourself; then others. Think about it . . . if God is not your first priority, you are not being replenished the way you need to be in order to continue serving others. You also need to love yourself, because if you don’t then you will not be able to love your neighbours either. The Gospel today (Mark 12:28-34) reminds me of how important it is to love God above all things and make Him your compass:
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
What happens when you don’t love God with all that you are? When you put other people before God, you are putting them in a place of importance for which they were not designed. They cannot possibly fulfill this role in your life, and it’s not really fair to put them on a pedestal, because you are setting them up for failure and setting yourself up for disappointment. When God comes first in your life, the love you have for others will increase infinitely – you will love them so much more than you ever could if you tried to love them more than God. And if you are going to “love your neighbour as yourself," you need to love yourself! There is nothing more important than love, and love of God specifically is the answer to pretty much all of your problems.
Jesus lays this out very simply in the Heaven Speaks to Young Adults booklet:
“My dear young apostles, there are many things that I can teach you. If you spend time with me, you will be loved, and you will then learn how to love. You will find that I am patient and kind. When you make a mistake, you will be forgiven and we will move on. I will forget your mistakes. You will use the Sacrament of Confession to cleanse your soul and I will fill it then with beautiful graces, which will speed you on your path to holiness. I am a good friend, always. I listen and I love. I see your soul both in terms of where you have been and in terms of where you are going. Often you do not know where you are going. So My advice, given My knowledge of My goals for you, is crucial. You need Me, dear young apostle. You need my wisdom and knowledge. The more time you spend with Me, the more I can give you these things. You will become like me. You will be a good friend to others. You will listen and you will love. Others will seek your counsel because they will come to trust you. What they will really be trusting is Me, because if you are united to Me, I can guide others through you. Do you begin to see the plan? I want to be close to you, indeed united to you, and then through you I will go out to others. Dear soul, it is only through unity with Me that you will have true peace. The world offers you darkness of spirit. Look closely at those who follow the world. Do they have peace? Are they loved? Do they sit calmly with others and allow others to speak, understanding that those each soul is precious? You will find, I am sure, that those following the world are cynical. This suits them because if they are cynical they can justify their selfishness. Reject this. Reject cynicism. There are many Christians in your world and these followers of Mine are not cynical. They are warm and loving and kind. And this is what I want for you. So I love you and you love others. It is very simple.”
He makes it seem so obvious. Love is like a natural spring running down a mountain – the purest water is at the source, and so it is with God. He is our source of love, and if we do not start with Him, we are liable to have a much more trying experience with love. (Anyone who’s ever gotten sick from muddy spring water halfway down a mountain will know what I mean!). If you are having any sort of difficulty in your relationships – with a boyfriend/girlfriend, or even with a friend or a sibling – stop and ask yourself what it might look like if you let God lead in love, and if your love priorities are in the correct order. Beware of making somebody the center of your world, because no human can be that for you. If God is the center of your world, it is going to be a much brighter and more beautiful world to live in.
So what have we learned from all of this? Basically, that all you need is love and that the Beatles were secretly spreading the Gospel. (Nobody ever talks about the Beatle’s Christian agenda for some reason).
God bless,
Annie
I used to think the most important thing for a Christian was to put other people’s needs in front of their own. This seemed to be the sign of a real Christian. After all, aren’t we supposed to make sacrifices for others? Shouldn’t we be out serving the poor and taking care of the emotionally impoverished and allowing others to draw strength from us and by the way, here is all my energy and let me just drain more blood out of my veins? I made that sentence a little frantic on purpose to show how much this doesn’t work. Self-sacrifice is beautiful and there is definitely an element of it being asked of each one of us, but to make other people your first priority is actually terribly wrong. The correct order of priorities, theologically speaking, is God; then yourself; then others. Think about it . . . if God is not your first priority, you are not being replenished the way you need to be in order to continue serving others. You also need to love yourself, because if you don’t then you will not be able to love your neighbours either. The Gospel today (Mark 12:28-34) reminds me of how important it is to love God above all things and make Him your compass:
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
What happens when you don’t love God with all that you are? When you put other people before God, you are putting them in a place of importance for which they were not designed. They cannot possibly fulfill this role in your life, and it’s not really fair to put them on a pedestal, because you are setting them up for failure and setting yourself up for disappointment. When God comes first in your life, the love you have for others will increase infinitely – you will love them so much more than you ever could if you tried to love them more than God. And if you are going to “love your neighbour as yourself," you need to love yourself! There is nothing more important than love, and love of God specifically is the answer to pretty much all of your problems.
Jesus lays this out very simply in the Heaven Speaks to Young Adults booklet:
“My dear young apostles, there are many things that I can teach you. If you spend time with me, you will be loved, and you will then learn how to love. You will find that I am patient and kind. When you make a mistake, you will be forgiven and we will move on. I will forget your mistakes. You will use the Sacrament of Confession to cleanse your soul and I will fill it then with beautiful graces, which will speed you on your path to holiness. I am a good friend, always. I listen and I love. I see your soul both in terms of where you have been and in terms of where you are going. Often you do not know where you are going. So My advice, given My knowledge of My goals for you, is crucial. You need Me, dear young apostle. You need my wisdom and knowledge. The more time you spend with Me, the more I can give you these things. You will become like me. You will be a good friend to others. You will listen and you will love. Others will seek your counsel because they will come to trust you. What they will really be trusting is Me, because if you are united to Me, I can guide others through you. Do you begin to see the plan? I want to be close to you, indeed united to you, and then through you I will go out to others. Dear soul, it is only through unity with Me that you will have true peace. The world offers you darkness of spirit. Look closely at those who follow the world. Do they have peace? Are they loved? Do they sit calmly with others and allow others to speak, understanding that those each soul is precious? You will find, I am sure, that those following the world are cynical. This suits them because if they are cynical they can justify their selfishness. Reject this. Reject cynicism. There are many Christians in your world and these followers of Mine are not cynical. They are warm and loving and kind. And this is what I want for you. So I love you and you love others. It is very simple.”
He makes it seem so obvious. Love is like a natural spring running down a mountain – the purest water is at the source, and so it is with God. He is our source of love, and if we do not start with Him, we are liable to have a much more trying experience with love. (Anyone who’s ever gotten sick from muddy spring water halfway down a mountain will know what I mean!). If you are having any sort of difficulty in your relationships – with a boyfriend/girlfriend, or even with a friend or a sibling – stop and ask yourself what it might look like if you let God lead in love, and if your love priorities are in the correct order. Beware of making somebody the center of your world, because no human can be that for you. If God is the center of your world, it is going to be a much brighter and more beautiful world to live in.
So what have we learned from all of this? Basically, that all you need is love and that the Beatles were secretly spreading the Gospel. (Nobody ever talks about the Beatle’s Christian agenda for some reason).
God bless,
Annie
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