Category: Uncategorized

Saint of the Week

St. Cyprian of Carthage

SING AND BE GLAD

Psalms 103:33-34 LXX (104:33-34)

I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I exist;
May my words be pleasing to Him,
And I shall be glad in the Lord.

Personal Challenge

Life can be tough. Sometimes it weighs heavily upon us. We can manage these tough times by singing unto the Lord. We can sing praises. We can sing supplications. We can even sing dirges that elicit our challenges. Singing unto our Lord opens our hearts to receive the gladness that He has for us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

MERCY AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

Psalms 102:17-18 LXX (103:17-18)

But the mercy of the Lord is from age to age upon those who fear Him,
And His righteousness upon children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant
And remember His commandments, to do them.

Command With a Promise

The Psalmist reminds us that if we fear God and keep His covenant then He will respond with mercy and righteousness. When we fear God we are not afraid of Him or cowering under His greatness. We are admiring Him with awe and respect for who He is. Keeping His covenant is yielding our will to His will by loving Him and loving our neighbor. The promise fulfilled by living this way is that we will see, and receive, His mercy for ages to come. He will pour out His righteousness upon us and our children and their children. This is the God that we choose to follow. Glory be to Him.

COMPASSION AND FORGIVENESS

Psalms 102:10-13 LXX (103:10-13)

He did not deal with us according to our sins,
Nor reward us according to our transgressions;
For according to the height of heaven from earth,
So the Lord reigns in mercy over those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So He removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him,

Encouraging Words

Compassion and forgiveness are so important to have in our lives. God models this for us over and over. We are constantly the benefactors of this love from Him. However, it does not stop here. He expects us to show compassion and forgiveness to those in our lives. Glory be to God!

COMPASSIONATE AND MERCIFUL

Psalms 102:8 LXX (103:8)

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

Encouraging Words

The God that followers of Christ worship, the God of the Holy Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament is compassionate and merciful. He is not the god that is worshipped by Christian nationalist and MAGA-minded people. Their god is angry and judgmental who hates the immigrants and those who don’t fit their vision of their definition of normal. God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, loves and cares for every human being, regardless of their color, mindset, political belief, or any other measure of humanness. He desires that His followers feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the foreigner and immigrant, take care of the orphan and the widow, and love everyone. Living this way is the only way we can proclaim to be His followers. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

BLESS THE LORD

Psalms 102:1-6 LXX (103:1-6)

By David.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And everything within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His rewards:
Who is merciful to all your transgressions,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from corruption,
Who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
Who satisfies your desire with good things;
And your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord shows mercies
And judgment to all who are wronged.

Personal Challenge

Our generation, our culture, our society, however you want to phrase it, has become so very self-focused that a phrase like “Bless the Lord” is hard for to utter for many. This attitude has even made it into so many institutions that call themselves churches. The prevailing attitude is that God should be blessing us. As the Psalmist articulates in this passage, God has done, and continues to do, so much for each of us that desire should be to bless Him. We do not deserve, and cannot earn, all or any of His blessings, and yet He still bestows them upon us. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and everything within me, bless His holy name.

Saint of the Week

St. Athanasius

BLAMELESS

Psalms 100:2 LXX (101:2)

I will sing and understand in a blameless way;
When will You come to me?
I walked in the innocence of my heart in the midst of my house.

Personal Challenge

As a follower of Christ, I recognize that I still sin. I do what I can to avoid sinning, but I still say something, do something, think or desire something, that I shouldn’t. Or I do not do any of these things when I should. Thankfully we follow our creator who loves us enough to forgive us and wipe our slate clean. Our desire in our life should be to stand blameless before our God and sing His praises. That desire will lead us to the actions that glorify Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

A VERB NOT A NOUN

Psalms 99 LXX (100)

A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout aloud to the Lord, all the earth;
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with great joy.
Know this: the Lord, He is God;
He made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
And into His courts with hymns;
Give thanks to Him; praise His name;
For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth is from generation to generation.

Personal Challenge

Being a follower of Christ is not a label, or a noun, that defines us. To be a follower of Christ, we must become a verb, acting out our relationship with Him. Look at the actions in this passage. Shout. Serve. Come. Know. Enter. Be thankful. Sing hymns. Give thanks. Praise Him. If we are not doing Christlikeness, then we are missing the mark. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

HATE EVIL

Psalms 96:10 LXX (97:10)

You who love the Lord, hate evil;
The Lord keeps the souls of His saints;
He shall deliver them from the hand of sinners.

Personal Challenge

This passage can present a dilemma for those who are sincerely trying to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Jesus commanded us to love God and to love our neighbor. He even goes to the point of loving our enemy and those who persecute us. So, how do we do that and hate evil as this verse tells us to? We must separate the evil from the person. We can love the perpetrator of evil and pray for them but we can hate the evil that has been committed and fight against that. This is how a follower of Christ can participate in peaceful protests. We can hate the evil that is being done, seeking to end it and still pray for those who commit these evils. We can seek justice for those who have been harmed and abused and still show the love of God toward those committing the injustices. It is not easy but it is what we are called to do. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!