June 26, 2018

ALIVE IN CHRIST

Romans 10:8-13

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Personal Challenge

Our challenge in our journey of salvation in Christ does not begin and end with a profession of faith. Our salvation comes from receiving Christ with our whole heart and being, putting our faith in Him alone, and living our lives in ways that honor and glorify Him. Our salvation is worked out in our lives as we give our selves over to Him and let Him change us into His image. We become different than we were before our confession of faith. We become different than the rest of the world around us. We give up our citizenship in this world and seize our citizenship in heaven. We are put to death in our baptism and live the remainder of our lives here on earth as the walking dead because we are now alive in Christ. Glory be to God!

June 25, 2018

WORKING FOR GOD

Sirach 32:23-24

In every work entrust your soul to the Lord,
For this is the keeping of the commandments.
He who believes in the Law heeds the commandments,
And he who trusts in the Lord will not suffer loss.

Personal Challenge

I remember when I was young and getting to the age where I could start working for a wage, my Father taught me that I was not working for the person paying me, but for God. He drilled into me, and my siblings, that God was my ultimate employer. With that thought in mind, then my work should be above and beyond just getting by. Whether I was mowing the lawn (my first job), hoeing weeds in the walnut orchard (my first fulltime summer job), selling shoes and doing janitorial work (my first non-agricultural job, or now being a professional employee working in information technology for 40 years), it is both my responsibility and my privilege to show who my God is to those around me by my work ethic. It is sad to see that this is no longer important to most people. Even in the church, we see that people have given up doing what they do as if they are doing it to the Lord. Why is this? You would think that in the church everyone would want to glorify the Lord in what they do, whether it be cleaning the carpet, teaching a Sunday school class, or just being nice to one another Is it because we have taken Jesus out of our lives and replaced Him with ourselves? Lord have mercy! Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have mercy!

June 24, 2018

TRUE LOVE

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Encouraging Words

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from Gods' love. Even if a person chooses to reject God, that does not eliminate God's love for them. God so loved the entire world, His entire creation, so much throughout the past, the present, and the future, that He was willing to give up His only begotten son so that it all might have true Life. What more can we hope for than this? Glory be to God!

June 23, 2018

Saint of the Week

St. Isaac the Syrian

June 22, 2018

GODLY AND RIGHTEOUS LIVES

Sirach 32:14-17

The man who fears the Lord will receive instruction,
And those who rise early will find His approval.
He who seeks the Law will be filled with it,
But the hypocrite will be made to stumble by it.
Those who fear the Lord will discover judgment,
And like the light they will kindle righteous deeds.
A sinful man will turn aside correction
And find a rationalization according to his will.

Personal Challenge

Living a godly and righteous life is not easy, partly because of the fallen world around us, but mostly because of our own strong-willed, defiant hearts. If we desire to glorify our God and grow in His image, then here are some instructions to help us do that. Fear the Lord and receive His instruction. Spend time with Him to start our days off. Seek His teachings and let them fill our minds and hearts. Relish in His judgments and discipline. God desires the best for us, but we must be willing to pursue Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy? Lord, have mercy!

June 21, 2018

WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

Romans 8:31-32

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Encouraging Words

Here we reach a turning point in Paul's letter to the Romans, and us. Even though Paul has consistently said that we cannot enter into the graces of God or His kingdom by our works because we are sinners, he is telling us here that because of who God is and what He has done, we have the only ally that we need in our life. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" God was, and is, so much for us that He gave up His only begotten Son so that we could be adopted into His family through Jesus. If He went that far to claim us, will He not be there for us through all things? Praise God for His love for His children and His creation.

June 20, 2018

GLADNESS OF THE HEART

Sirach 30:21-24

Do not give yourself over to sorrow,
And do not distress yourself deliberately.
Gladness of the heart is the life of man,
And rejoicing by a man lengthens his life.
Love your soul and comfort your heart,
And put sorrow far away from you;
For sorrow has destroyed many,
And there is no profit in it.
Envy and anger will shorten your days,
And worry will bring premature old age.

Personal Challenge

Many things happen in our lives that will bring sorrow and distress on us. Having sorrowful events happen in our lives is part of being human. This passage is encouraging us to not let that sorrow or distress take us over and rule how we think or feel. It encourages us to process our sorrow and then to love ourselves enough to put the sorrow far away from us. We have become a society that is dependent upon drugs to deaden the pain of sorrow in our lives. This does not eliminate them, it just covers them up. It is not easy to develop this practice, but it is something that can be mastered by perseverance. Sometimes we may need others to help encourage us in this journey of life as we strive to put sorrow far away. That is why God created us to be in unity with one another because we need others. Glory be to God!

June 19, 2018

ALL THINGS...

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Encouraging Words

God has a purpose for every one of our lives. The details of that purpose vary from person to person. That is part of what makes us all unique in the eyes of God. God also has His own purpose, and He will call upon us to be a part of that purpose. There are many different levels of commitment that God's calling imposes upon us. The beautiful and empowering thing is that God promises to make all things that happen in our lives work together for our good as we pursue His purpose in our lives. This does not always mean that everything goes smoothly. We still live in a fallen world. We still make poor and sinful choices. We can know that if we continue to pursue God, He will use the consequences from our poor choices, or the poor choices of others that affect us, for the good in our lives. That good may be the lessons that we learn. It may be the character that is built within us. It may be the humility that results, which teaches us to submit to God. God loves us that much. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

June 18, 2018

SALVATION IN OUR NEIGHBOR

Sirach 28:2-3

Forgive a wrong done you by your neighbor;
Then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
Can a man preserve wrath against his neighbor
And still seek healing from the Lord?

Personal Challenge

John Donne once made the statement that no man is an island. The scriptures have been teaching this from their very beginning. None of us can survive in this physical, mortal life without others being a part of our existence and very essence. Even in our Eastern Orthodox tradition, we are taught that we can only be truly saved in our community of fellow believers. Living in unity with those around us includes forgiveness of those in our lives who have offended us, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Our sins cannot be fully released in our lives unless we do so. Not that God's power to forgive sins is limited, but that if we cannot humble ourselves to the point of forgiving our neighbor we will not be able to humble ourselves enough to fully receive the forgiveness of our loving God. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

June 17, 2018

Saint of the Week

Billy Gene Short (1927-2014)

This week, and this Father's Day, I lift up my father who was, is, and always will be a saint to me. I think this quote from General Douglas MacArthur epitomizes how my father raised my brother and me.

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. 

Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee—and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. 

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. 

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high, a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men, one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. 

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity or true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength. 

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! My prayer is that I follow in your footsteps.

June 14, 2018

ABBA, FATHER!

Romans 8:14-15

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus left His regal place in Heaven to become His creation. He became a man. He lived a human life with all of its challenges and temptations. In His humanness, He chose to not sin and therefore lived a perfect and pure life. He then gave up that life as a sacrifice for the very creation that He became. By doing this He returned to heaven as a resurrected human being, opening the door for His believers to enter heaven as well. By this glorious work of love, mercy, and grace, Jesus changed our relationship with God forevermore. We are now adopted into Gods' family as sons and daughters and no longer slaves as we were when we were subject to the law. Jesus has made us joint heirs with Him in the kingdom of heaven through adoption. Because of this, we do not have to fear God as a slave fears his master, but we can call out to him with, "Abba, Father", as a child calls out, "Pappa" when he or she needs the love of a caring father. Glory be to God!

June 13, 2018

REASONING

Sirach 27:4-7

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains;
So a man's filth remains in the way he reasons.
As a furnace tests a potter's vessels,
So the test of a man is in the way he reasons.
As fruit reveals how a tree is cultivated,
So a man's reasoning process reveals his heart.
Do not praise a man before he reveals the way he reasons,
For this is the way a man is tested.

Personal Challenge

Here in Sirach, we are reminded to not take a person's actions or thoughts into account on first impressions, but to study and understand how he, or she, reasons to get to that point. This is what reveals the true nature of their heart. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

June 7, 2018

ALIVE

Romans 8:10

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Encouraging Words

Death of our physical bodies is a result of the original sin of Adam. We were created to be eternal beings. God, in His infinite love for us, instituted physical death of our mortal bodies so that we would not spend eternity in the flesh that sins. Because Jesus became incarnate, lived a sinless life, and gave up His physical body as a sacrificial lamb, the reign that physical death had on us was broken. He gave us the Holy Spirit and we now have eternal, spiritual life after an physical death. This is all a mystery, but a truth that we can claim every day of our life here in this physical body, Jesus has freed us from death and given us eternal life. Glory be a God!

June 6, 2018

A BEAUTIFUL THING

Sirach 25:1

There are three things beautiful to see,
And they are beautiful before the Lord and men:
The harmony of brothers, friendship between neighbors,
And a wife and husband well-adjusted together.

Encouraging Words

What a blessing it is to be able to live in harmony with those around us and to be a part of a friendly circle of people. But all of this pales in the presence of a husband and a wife that are deeply in love with one another, for as the scriptures teach us when a man and a woman come together in marriage, then two become one. I am so blessed to have a wonderful wife to share my life with. A wife who loves me deeply, even with all of my faults and idiosyncrasies. Glory be to God!

June 5, 2018

NO GREATER LOVE

Romans 8:1-2

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Encouraging Words

It is good to know that the work of our Lord Jesus Christ covers each and every one us as we strive to live godly lives. His work does not mean that we can take advantage of it and live worldly lives. It means that as are work out His salvation in our lives that He will cover us. When we do commit sins in our lives, He never abandons or forsakes Us. That is the depth of His love for us.

June 3, 2018

A GUARD OVER MY MOUTH

Sirach 22:27

Who will set a guard over my mouth,
And a prudent seal over my lips,
That I may not fall because of them,
And that my tongue may not destroy me?

Personal challenge

The tongue, or what we choose to speak with it, has been addressed by so many of the wisdom writers, the apostles, and even Jesus, as the source of so much sin and damage. That is why silence is so often lifted up as the golden behavior, for in silence I will not do as much damage as if I speak. But Jesus teaches us that what the tongue speaks, thus is the nature of our heart. Knowing this, we cannot just stop at holding our tongues, but we must also be working at purging our hearts and minds of those things that would be spoken by the tongue. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

June 2, 2018

Saint of the Week

St. Maria of Paris