May 14, 2013

Psalm 119:105 (118:105 LXX)

Your word is a lamp to my feetAnd a light to my paths.

Encouraging Words...

Living in today's world of modern conveniences and infrastructure we loose the power of this verse. Everywhere I go I have light to show the way...street lights, ambient city lights, whatever. I bet there are some people who have never experienced total darkness or total silence. Being a camper and a traveler to third world countries I have been in paces that are totally black when the sun goes down. It is in places like these that this verse comes to light (pun intended). In this dark and fallen world only God's word, the written word, the spoken word from our Fathers and Mothers, the traditions, that we get the light that we need to see our feet and to keep them on His path. We (I) must go through this journey of life with a total dependence upon Him.

May 13, 2013

John 2:9-10

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!

Encouraging words...

One of the things that I love about Eastern Orthodoxy is how we see many of the things of God as mysteries. God is God and we are not. He does not need to reveal how He does what He does, or why, to His creation. Another thing I love is knowing that the scriptures are filled with symbology. How is it that so many Christians can believe that Jesus did indeed start His ministry in Cana by turning water into wine, but do not believe that He transforms the bread and wine of Holy Communion into His Body and Blood? The early Fathers, those who walked with Christ, saw this miracle as a prefiguring, or symbol, of what happens every time we take the Eucharist in Holy Communion. Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

May 12, 2013

Matthew 28:19-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Personal Challenge...

Once again I am reminded that I am not called to an easy chair life as a Christian. Look at all of the verbs in this short passage, "go", "make", "baptizing", "teaching". God wants me to be an active worker in the building of His kingdom and not just on Sunday mornings. Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

May 11, 2013

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Personal Challenge...

I am not being told here to let my light shine so that others can see my good works and congratulate me for what a good Christina I am. The purpose is so that they can see God through the works that I do. I should disappear in the process. This also implies that I am doing God's good works and not just mine. It is His kingdom that I have been adopted into and the works that I should be doing need to be of that kingdom.

May 10, 2013

Philippians 2:5-7

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

Personal Challenge...

In these verses it is pointed out so clearly, yet so subtly, that we are to have the same mind as Christ Jesus, and that this mind is to make ourselves to be of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant, and submitting ourselves first to Him and then to the needs of others in love. Oh how far I have to go in my journey to live this way. Lord, have mercy!

May 9, 2013

2 Timothy 1:8-9

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

Personal Challenge...

Am I living my life as a prisoner of Christ? Am I living it so that I am not ashamed of Him or His message? Am I living it as one who has been saved from death and given a holy calling? Eternity is now and I am called to live eternally now.

May 8, 2013

1 John 4:10-12

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Personal Challenge...

If Christianity could be boiled down to one word, if the manifestation of my life could be exhibited and summed up in one word, what would that word be? LOVE! Am I living my life in Christ in such a way that everyone sees God's love through my love? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!