God Can Never Lie.

(Homily for February 10, 2017).

At the heart of every temptation we face is a challenge by Satan to disprove what God has said. In the first temptation, Satan made Eve believe that God was telling a lie; in that even though God said they would die, nothing would happen to her but that instead her eyes would be open and she would be like God, knowing good from evil. Take a look at what happened here and you would see a repeat of this in our own lives each time we are faced with temptation.

First Satan tries to disprove what God has said, he makes us doubt God then he goes further to make us believe that there is something beneficial we stand to gain from sin. Satan presents before us empty promises such as the pleasure we hope to get, the excitement of it all, the fun it promises, the hope of becoming richer, more beautiful, more powerful and connected, and so on and so on. We begin to assume that God is keeping these things away from us or that his commandments are a restriction to our enjoyment.

It is only after falling into sin that our eyes become open; then we get to see that Satan is the real liar and not God, that what we thought God is keeping away from us was never for our good and there is no happiness whatsoever in sin. Having realized what they had done, Adam and Eve became ashamed and hid themselves away from God. If only we trust God enough, we would never listen to that tiny voice of Satan that never stops suggesting to us as he did to Eve.

Having created us, God alone knows what is best for us hence his instructions for our lives contain the keys to true happiness. In the healing of the deaf and dumb man in our Gospel passage this morning, we see how much God cares about our good. Let us continue to believe that God means well for us; that his commandments are truly for our good.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, increase my trust in you daily that I may never offend you anymore. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Genesis 3:1-8 and Mark 7:31-37).

Fr. Abu.