Judges 2:11-19 / Matthew 19:16-22
As Christians, we believe in God and the expression of this belief is to keep His Commandments.
In its very essentials, to keep the Commandments of God is to love God and to love neighbour.
To love God is to keep to what He has stated in the Commandments and also to do what is right, just and good to our neighbour.
But the temptations of the pleasure and desires make us lose focus on our faith.
In the 1st reading, the people of God did what displeases the Lord and served the Baals or idols.
They deserted the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and followed the other gods of the peoples around them.
The attraction of worshipping these other gods is that human desires and pleasures are fulfilled, but there is always a heavy price to pay later.
The people of God paid the price when their enemies pillaged and plundered them.
They repented and God sent judges to rescue them, but they still fell into the temptations of pleasure and desires.
In many ways, that is also our story of weakness in the face of temptations.
Like the rich young man in the gospel, we know that wealth and earthly possessions will not make us truly happy.
We have turned away from God, and that has only brought us sadness.
Let us turn back to God, and follow Jesus, and we will receive blessings that will give us true happiness.