R
@dddoo7 This is a super awesome perspective and most definitely something that isn't mentioned in any sunday mass that I've ever been too. In my way of thinking, there are certain things you don't take on in this life unless you are all in. This religion is the highest level of that mentality. Our God knows our souls, our hearts, and therefore our potential as people. Although our God is one of love and patience, he also is a strict God that expects us to use fully the tools and wisdom he intentionally exposed us too. We weren't put on this Earth to be average and fall into what society deems acceptable, we were put here to be GREAT!! Greatness doesn't mean we are good sometimes or just when it's convenient to us, greatness means we take in every second we have on this Earth to be the absolute best we can possibly be. Being our best requires constant maintenance and is a forever moving finish line, and God gave us everything we could ever need in order to focus our eyes and chase that finish line with a hungry heart. I believe God sees it as an insult when we only choose to be "pretty good." What prophet or righteous man in scripture was just "pretty good?" They weren't just pretty good, they were great in times when it was difficult to be. They followed God's law even when it was so incredibly hard too. They did not just follow the law because it was there and made them look moral to their peers, they followed the law because they had the ultimate faith in God's will and their hearts had the strongest desire to be the best they could be in God's eyes. In my opinion, few things are as honorable as that. In a sense, that's the truest display of love, strength, and commitment.
We all fail to follow God's law at one time or another, there is no such thing as perfection as a human. However, greatness isn't about being perfect, it's about getting better. It's about owning our mistakes. It's about being strong. It's about being grateful. It's about growing. It's about being YOU! Greatness doesn't and never will require a flawless performance, but it does require a heart that beats for God and a soul that lives for his instruction.
At the end of the day, you only answer to yourself and God. Regardless of what other people expect from you or think is normal, never forget you weren't put here to be normal. You weren't put here to be glorified by your peers, and in the same way be put down by your peers. You were put here to be GREAT.
Proverbs 16:26 "The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on.
Isaiah 7:9 "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."
Isaiah 29:13 "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
Isaiah 26:8-9 "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you."
1 Corinthians 7:19 "Keeping God's commands is what counts."
1 Corinthians 4:4-5 "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me."
1 Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."
