November 15, 2017

A VIRTUOUS LIFE

Proverbs 16:1

All the works of the humble are evident before the Lord,
But the ungodly will be destroyed in the evil day.

Personal Challenge

The early church fathers believed that humility was living a life of virtue. What are these virtues? They are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, and kindness. As we strive to live these virtues in our lives we build the ability to exercise the virtue of humility. If we chose the way of the world, which is lust, gluttony, greed, acedia, anger, and vanity then we produce pride in our lives and build a wall between us and our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 14, 2017

FULLY GOD, FULLY HUMAN

John 5:30

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Personal Challenge

So, how is it that Jesus, who is one of the Trinity, say that He can do nothing by Himself? We must always remember that Jesus is two natures in one person. He had two natures. He is fully God, a member of the God-head, begotten by the Father and fully eternal. It is through Him that creation was done and in His image that all of mankind was made. He is also fully man, just like the handiwork of His creation, incarnate, and living a human existence like every one of us has done since Adam. He had to deal with human temptations, human emotions, and a human will. This is what He is referring to when He says, "I can of Myself do nothing." As a human being, He had to submit His human will completely to God's divine will in order to do that which God had called Him to do. How does this fully human, fully God thing work? No one knows, for it is truly a mystery that only God knows the answer to. What is so special in all of this is that Jesus, the incarnate human being, made it possible for us to follow in His footsteps and to be able to submit our will to God as He did. This is our journey to theosis. This is our true work in this life. This is my desire even though I continue to exercise my own personal will all too often. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 13, 2017

LIKE A CHILD

Psalms 119:130 (118:130 LXX)

The revelation of Your words gives light,
And it causes children to understand.

Personal Challenge

Throughout the New Testament writings, we are taught that we must come to our Lord as little children in order to get all that He has to offer us. Children are innocent. They are open and trusting. They receive input more than they produce output. Here we have the Psalmist saying the same thing. God continually pours out His light upon us. He reveals Himself to us this way. But if we are so caught up in the ways of the world, the busyness of our lives, and our propensity to being in control, then that light goes right past us and we gain nothing. We must humble ourselves and be as a child in His presence, emptying ourselves of our adultness so that we can be receptive to the revelation that He desires us to have. This is a lifelong endeavor and not a point in time action. As St. Paul tells us, we are running a marathon and not a sprint. Our true pursuit of our Land Jesus Christ becomes a pursuit of humility, supplication, submission, and obedience to Him who is greater than all. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner especially the sin of pride and self-centeredness.

November 12, 2017

INSTRUCTION AND WISDOM

Proverbs 15:32-33 (15:37-38 LXX)

He who rejects instruction hates himself,
But he who gives heed to reproofs loves his soul.
The fear of God is instruction and wisdom,
And the beginning of glory will respond to it.

Personal Challenge

Instruction, discipline, correction, reproof and other similar terms are all used in the Proverbs to teach us that we must joyfully accept these things in our lives if we desire to grow in the image of Christ. Since we live in a fallen and broken world it is so easy to turn away from our God and to embrace the things of this world, In doing so, we sin. God desires that we be in constant communion with Him, so He corrects our sinfulness in order to bring us back to Him, just as a parent corrects their child to teach them the right way to behave. We are so blessed that our God loves us so much and that His corrections are always from that love, As we heed the discipline of our Father we begin to see and understand His wisdom and the wisdom that He desires us to have. This is part of our journey towards His glory. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 11, 2017

Saint of the Week

St. Mark the Ascetic

November 9, 2017

HEARING, BELIEVING, LIVING

John 5:24

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Encouraging Words

Jesus makes it clear to us in this verse that He and His Father are inseparable. The gift of everlasting life comes from hearing the word of Jesus and through that word believing in the Father. Our salvation is not in Jesus alone, or the Father alone, or the Holy Spirit alone, but in all three of them, the Trinity. Jesus also makes it clear that our everlasting life, our passing from death to life, begins that very moment that we believe in the Father who sent Him. We do not have to wait for our death to enter everlasting life. This is why our sinning after we become children of God is something that needs to be dealt with and repented of. Sin pulls is away from the presence of God and the blessings of eternal life that He wants to pour out upon us as we continue our journey through this temporal world. This is where the Holy Spirit comes into the picture, He is part of our lives to lead us in paths of righteousness and to turn our head and heart away from the temptations of the world. But we must listen to Him as well. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 8, 2017

GOD'S LIGHT

Psalms 119:105 (118:105 LXX)

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my paths.

Encouraging Words

Why spend time reading God's scriptures and the teachings of the Saints? Because they are provided by God to give us His uncreated light to illumine our journey through life and to help us to become more like His Son. We are not alone on this journey. Glory be to God!

November 7, 2017

SPEAKING HUMBLY

Proverbs 15:1

Wrath destroys even men of discernment;
But a humble answer turns away anger,
And a grievous word stirs up wrath.

Personal Challenge

The time to practice humility and speaking humbly to others is never in the midst of an argument. If we practice living this way in the calm times, the times that we are at peace with those around us, then we develop the ability and the way of speaking and being that will come forth in the stressful situations. It never helps the situation to respond to a wrathful person with wrath for it only adds more fuel to the fire. Is this an easy characteristic to develop in our lives? It is not, but the results of doing so have great benefit. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 6, 2017

LIVING WATER

John 4:13-14

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Encouraging Words

Living Water! Jesus is our source of a water that gives us eternal life. The one core essence that every creature needs to survive is water. That is one of the reasons that water is such important part of so many of our activities in the Orthodox church. We believe that when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river He restored water to its state before the fall. Today, through Jesus, we can partake of this Living Water. Glory be to God!

November 5, 2017

FOREVER...

Psalms 119:89 (118:89 LXX)

Forever, O Lord,
Your word continues in heaven.

Encouraging Words

Our God is not temporary or fleeting. He is not changing or changeable by the whims of this temporary world. There are great solace and comfort in this truth for it gives us, whose lives are temporary and fleeting, something, rather Someone, to hold onto as everything around us changes and passes on. Glory be to God!

November 4, 2017

Saint of the Week

St. Theophan the Recluse

November 3, 2017

HEALING THE HEART

Proverbs 14:30 (14:31 LXX)

A man with a gentle spirit is a healer of the heart,
But a sensual heart is the moth of the bones.

Personal Challenge

The first half of this verse is pretty clear, be nice to others, give them the treatment of a gentle spirit, and their hearts will be healed. But the second part of this translation is a little harder to understand. Let's try a different translation...

Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)A heart at peace gives life to the body,but envy rots the bones.

A sensual heart is a heart full of passion. If that passion is envy or lust or anger or any other negative passion then it will eat us from the inside out. Once again we are being taught that what is in our hearts determines what we do with our lives. Our ongoing personal challenge in our journey of life is to protect our heart from the things of this World and to let our Lord fell it with Himself. Glory be to God!

November 2, 2017

BELIEVING BY ACTING

John 3:36

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Command with a Promise

The early church fathers (and by this, we mean first and second-century saints) taught that our salvation comes from our faith in Christ and our subsequent actions of working out that faith in our lives. We cannot just say some simple prayer and then go on living our lives the way we always have, A true faith in Christ begins to change us from the inside to the outside and our actions begin to demonstrate that faith in God. He facilitates these changes in us, but we must be willing and active participants in the change process which works out the salvation process within us. St. John Chrysostom said,

“We do not from this assert that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; the directions for living that are given in many places in the Gospels show this.”

St. John makes it clear that our salvation is a process that is managed and controlled by God. This requires us to follow and act upon His commandments, expectations, and precepts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 1, 2017

GOD'S COMPASSIONS POURED OUT ON US

Psalms 118:77

Let Your compassions come to me, and I shall live;
For Your law is my meditation.

Encouraging Words

God loves His creation so dearly. He loves us even to the point of His own death. In that love, He chooses to pour out His compassions upon us and gives us life, both an abundant temporal life and eternal life. Our part in this exchange is to receive that which He is giving us as a free, no strings attached gift and to meditate upon Him and follow Him. He gives so much more to the relationship than we can ever return. Lord, have Mercy!

October 31, 2017

DISCERNMENT...

Proverbs 14:17

A quick-tempered man acts with recklessness,
But a man with discernment bears many things.

Personal Challenge

There is definitely a benefit to learning to hold one's tongue in the middle of a heated discussion or argument. Being quick-tempered can get a person into a lot of trouble and cause a lot of pain to others. It takes time, effort, and a commitment to our Lord to learn how to manage our tempers and to become people that bear many things. Discernment, the crown of the virtues is a worthy goal in life, for with it we will act supernaturally. Glory be to God!