We can mislead ourselves to think that simply claiming
being a believer without having practiced the Faith faithfully will somehow be
enough to gather the aimed goal. This is precisely the spiritual danger that
confronts those who do not practice the Faith but claim to be practicing
Believers because they come e.g. to Mass at Christmas and Easter. Or let me put
it this way: they “practice” the Faith on their own terms and not according to
true ones.
In a similar manner, we can mislead ourselves to think that
as long as we avoid wrongdoing, we will be ok (saved). Though I believe that it
is not enough to merely avoid sin. My perception is that He expects us to
render fruit. Rendering fruit does not come about by merely avoiding failures.
Rather, it is growth in virtue that produces the fruit.
I m going to give you a simple analogy could help to
understand what I do mean by this: We, as athletes do not train for our sport
by merely avoiding injury and doing the least amount of preparation. We don’t
ask, “What can I get away with?”
Instead, we work hard to build muscle and endurance and
skill so as to win our competition. We ask, “What more can I do to get ready to
win?”
If this is not our attitude — if we are merely living our
lives of faith based on the desire to avoid sin, without a desire to build
virtue — we will soon find ourselves ill-equipped to produce the fruit that He
expects of us.
We should always call to mind the first axiom of the
moral life, “Do good and avoid evil.” And yet, many around us spend too much
time avoiding evil without giving adequate attention to doing good. If we are
committed to good works, avoiding evil becomes more achievable and, eventually,
habitual.
Yours Robert
