Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent - March 10

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Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 Matthew 6:36-38

“…Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim…”

 These seem like good words to live by, right? As I enter my twenty-fourth year with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department I know from experience that those words are actually pretty hard to live up to. Unfortunately for many of us in my profession, many of the people we encounter are those who haven’t been able to live up to those words. It can be a struggle for me at times; always wondering if anyone can live by these words, to cease doing evil, learn to do good and make justice their aim.

Most of us strive to do good in our daily lives and to live up to these ideals. But it’s when we fail to do so that really challenges us. It’s during these times of failure or lack of control when we can turn to our family, friends and church to help us through.

“…But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you.”

This is not just a warning to the criminals on the street, but a warning to the very people we see every day in our own lives. And it is a warning for each of us. We need to take the time to focus on being the best we can be; and if we can say we did our best at the end of the day, I think that is all the Lord is asking of us. “Did we try our best, or did we refuse and resist God’s will?”

Q: When you continue to fail at doing good, how confi dent are you in God’s enduring mystery? Which of your failings to “do good” come from an inability to control an impulse; and which sins are intentional resistance to doing what we know to be good and choosing not to do it?

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