Verse of the Day

Author: David Short

  • February 25, 2013


    Psalm 89:47-48 (88:48-49 LXX)

    Let my substance be remembered, as to what sort it is,
    For did You create all the sons of men in vain?What kind of man is there who will live and not see death?
    Will he deliver his soul from the hand of Hades?

    Personal Challenge…

    No matter what I do, how much money I make, how many toys I accumulate, how much I get promoted at work or get known in my community or church, I will still physically die some day. The real question here, the real goal to pursue, is whether or not my substance will be remembered as a good and godly man who loved his God and his neighbor. Will I be remembered as a man who loved and took care of his wife, children, and grandchildren? Will I be remembered as a man who could be trusted to keep his word and whose word was filled with truth. Will I be remembered as a man that projected the image of Christ? A sobering thought and a worthwhile goal to pursue.

  • February 24, 2013

    Luke 24:32

    And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

    Encouraging Words…

    Do the Scriptures burn within my heart? Does God speak to me and open His Scriptures to me? Through the work of my Lord and Savior and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit I can step into the presence of my living God and be in communion with Him. Isn’t this the purpose of our liturgy and worship every time we do it? Isn’t this the purpose of reading the Scripture and practicing the traditions of our church? None of this is dull or lifeless if my heart, mind, and soul are yearning to be in God’s presence.

  • February 23, 2013

    Titus 3:4-7

    But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

    Encouraging Words…

    I have become an heir in the family and kingdom of God through His kindness and love. This was not because of anything that I have done or prayer that I have breathed, but through the work of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon me. Jesus saved me from eternal death and when I was baptized in Him and chrismated for Him I entered into the eschatological community of the Church. This baptism and chrismation are the beginning, the rite of passage toward a progressive life of renewal in Christ (Orthodox Study Bible notes). My journey into the eternal family of God did not end when I came to know Christ…it just got started.

  • February 21, 2013

    1 Peter 5:5

    Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

         “God resists the proud,

          But gives grace to the
          humble.”

    Command with a Promise…

    There is that “h” word again…humble. And once again it is coupled with that “s” word…submit. They always seem to go hand-in-hand. And this time I am told that if I submit and be humble, both choices of my will, then God will give me grace. Sounds like it is worth it to me!

  • February 20, 2013


    1 Peter 4:10-11

    As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    Personal Challenge…

    The scripture is clear that each of us who have been baptized and chrismated into the body of Christ have received one or more gifts from the Holy Spirit. These gifts are for the building up of the Church and the edification of our Lord. We are also commanded to be diligent in using these gifts at our full potential, not with a lackadaisical, laissez-faire attitude. We should always be striving to serve our Lord better today than yesterday knowing that we can do even better tomorrow. It is wrong to apply these gifts more in the world than in our service to the King.

  • February 19, 2013

    Mark 12:27

    He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.

    Encouraging Words…

    Part of my journey to Eastern Orthodoxy has included the unloading of beliefs that I had been taught throughout my Christian life. One of these was the teaching that icons and saints were idols and that people prayed to them and worshiped them. That is not how it works in the Orthodox church. We embrace this passage and believe that those saints who have departed this earth, those who have lived their lives in Christ, are not gone but resting in the presence of Christ. They can hear our petitions and see what is going on in our lives…it is a mystery. We venerate them to show our respect for them and the lives that they have lived. We petition them and ask them to represent us to Christ since they are in His presence. Only God can answer our prayers. Only God deserves our worship. The icons that we have amongst us provide us with windows into the lives of these saints and the Church that, through the mysteries of our God and His ability to transcend time, we too can be drawn through these windows and partake in these events. It is indeed a mystery and one that the early church fathers deliberated and professed to be right and true.

  • February 18, 2013

    1 Peter 3:7

    Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

    Command with a Promise…

    What a delicate balance living a life for Christ is. It is so easy to get caught up in one’s pursuit of spirituality and righteousness and forget that we also have a responsibility to our spouse and family. I think this can be especially challenging for us guys who are asked to be leaders in our church communities. This passage is another one of God’s commands with a promise. We are commanded to live with our wives with understanding…understanding of their needs, their desires, the development of their theosis. We are also commanded to treat them as our joint heirs of the grace of life that God pours out upon us. And what is the promise for being obedient in this way…an unhindered prayers…an unhindered relationship with our Lord. And my response to this is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Sone of God, have mercy on me a sinner!” for there is so much more that I can do to love my wife the way that Christ loved the Church, His bride.

  • February 15, 16, 17, 2013

    February 15, 2013
    Psalm 92:15 (91:16 LXX)
    So as to proclaim, The Lord my God is upright,
    And there is no wrongdoing in Him.

    Encouraging Words…

    My Lord, my God, You are all truth, all righteous, and I fall down before You unworthy of Your love. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

    February 16, 2013
    Luke 17:10

    So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.

    Personal Challenge…

    No matter what I do for my Lord; give my tithes and offerings; go on a mission trip; whatever, these are expected of me. I am commanded to serve Him and give back to Him, whatever is already is His. This again is another definition of humility…giving to God that which is already His and serving Him and not expecting anything in return…especially recognition from others. I owe Him everything, He owes me nothing.

    February 17, 2013
    1 Timothy 4:12

    Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

    Personal Challenge…

    Paul’s charge to Timothy as a young leader in the church can apply to all of us. We are to live our lives in a way that truly glorifies and magnifies our Lord. We are to be beacons of light in a dark world and examples of Christ amongst our brothers and sisters.

  • February 14, 2013

    James 4:17

    Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

    Personal Challenge…

    Lord, have mercy. It is so easy to focus on the sins that we have committed and ask for forgiveness. What about those sins of omission? Not helping that person in need. Not saying something nice to someone, or about them, especially when I do not like them. Not putting others before myself. Not submitting to my Lord. If I take a serious look into my heart I can find more things that I know are good and right to do, and that I have not or do not do, than of the things that I have done wrong. This is a sobering realization.

  • February 13, 2013

    James 4:1-7

    Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

    But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

         “God resists the proud,
           But gives grace to the humble.”

    Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

    Personal Challenge…

    What can be added to these inspired words? Nothing. I must constantly be examining the state of my heart and my motives, submitting to God in humility if I want to see Him active in my life and answering my prayers. When I live my life this way I will be able to be in the world, shining His light, but not of the world, pursuing the pleasures of the world.

    I like how Maximos the Confessor puts it:

    “The rewards for the toils of virtue are dispassion and spiritual knowledge. For these are the mediators of the kingdom of heaven, just as passions and ignorance are the mediators of eternal punishment. It is because of this that he who seeks these rewards for the sake of human glory and not for their intrinsic goodness is rebuked by the words of Scripture: ‘You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly’”