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Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Personal Challenge

Which yoke are we taking up and putting on our backs? Is it the yoke of the world or the yoke of Christ? He calls out to us and asks us to come to Him first. He asks us to take up His yoke. He offers us rest in response to our coming to Him and a yoke that is easy and light because He shares the weight. We need to examine the joke that we are carrying to make sure it is truly His. Glory be to God!

Matthew 11:25

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.”

Encouraging Words

As part of our fallenness we have made it good to always be in the pursuit of knowledge. The world believes there is power in knowledge. There has been, and still are, heresies that believe the path to God is through knowledge. The problem with the pursuit of knowledge is that it puts us in control. Jesus often reminded us that God reveals Himself to those who are babes, who put all their trust in their creator. He will hide His truths, His knowledge, from those who have puffed themselves up with the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge. If we want a fruitful and righteous life we need to know God not know about Him. Glory be to God!

Matthew 10:38-39

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Personal Challenge

Jesus quickly follows the challenge to us to proclaim Him as our Lord with the challenge to be willing to give up our lives for Him. He was willing to carry His cross and be sacrificed for us. Are we willing to do the same for Him? He was willing to give up His place in heaven in order to be incarnate and save us. Are we willing to lose our life for Him. He does not present this as an option, but as an expectation. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Matthew 10:32-33

Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Personal Challenge

Are we really ready to confess Christ fully before our fellow man and woman? Are we willing to stand firm on His teachings and precepts even though they may cause conflicts with the systems and people around us? Jesus is not asking us to just say that we are His followers and then do what everyone around us is doing. This is the ultimate form of hypocrisy. He is asking us to proclaim Him as our Lord with our lips and our actions. To demonstrate to the world around us that we desire to follow in His footsteps by walking in His footsteps. Living a life that confesses Jesus as our Lord will create a life that sets us apart from the world and therefore create conflict with the world. Are we ready to live this way? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 10:28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy to get caught up in the things that are happening around us in our world and to let that begin to drive us into a state of fear and apprehension. When we get to this state we either cower in our homes or begin to embrace conspiracies in order to explain it away. As followers of Christ we have nothing to fear. Even our death, which is guaranteed to happen sooner or later is in His hands, as are the life after that death. If we fear anything it should be a fearful respect for our God, who holds our eternal and temporal lives in His hands, and continually pray for His forgiveness and mercy. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Matthew 9:36-38

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Matthew 9:2

Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

Encouraging Words

One of the things that struck me in a positive way when I starting looking into the Eastern Orthodox Church was the focus on “we” and “us” rather than “I” and “me”. We are the Church of Christ, a body comprised of many parts, many people. When one of us sins, all are impacted. When one of us feeds a hungry person, all are touched. When we pray for one, we pray for all. We do not go through our journey to theosis alone. Thinking this way makes me accountable to all. It makes it important for me to care about my brother or sister and how their needs might be met. Just as the faith of the friends of the paralytic contributed to his healing, so can our faith lead to the healing and restoration to our fellow members of the body of Christ. Glory be to God!

Matthew 8:23-27

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Personal Challenge

One of the errors that many who proclaim to be Christians makes is the assumption that now that I am a follower of Christ, everything in life will be smooth and glorious. We still live in a fallen world. We still sin and so does everyone around us. This fallenness and sinfulness causes bad things to happen. Even Jesus had storms swell up around Him. If we are truly His followers then we will be looking to Him in both the good times and the bad. Our faith in Him needs to grow to the point the we don’t even recognize the storms because we know that we are in His care, in His boat. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!