Author: David Short

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!