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Zechariah 7:9-10

“Thus says the Lord Almighty: ‘Render a just judgment; show mercy and compassion each to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, or the orphan, or the foreigner, or the poor. And let not one remember in his heart any wrong of his brother.’”

Personal Challenge

“Render a just judgment.” God wants us to evaluate the world around us, including the people in our lives at any moment in time, and to discern what our behavior should be. In the process of doing this, we must assess those around us with love, mercy, and compassion, and not in a bitter, judgmental way. We are to go out of our way to not oppress the widow, or the orphan, or the foreigner, or the poor as we do that discerning assessment. To the contrary, it is our responsibility to show them God’s love. We are also told to not hold a grudge against anyone that has offended us, less that cause us to sin. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Ephesians 5:8-10

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

Personal Challenge

Paul is not telling us that we transitioned from living in the darkness to living in the light when we became God’s children. He is saying that before Christ we were darkness. He is saying that now that we are Christ’s, we are light as He is light and that we should shine in such a way that others are blinded by God’s light showing through us. As we choose to sin, we cover this light and make it dimmer. However, we can continue to run to our father to be cleansed of our sin and to be able to shine again. Glory be to God!

Baruch 2:14-15

O Lord, hear our prayer and our petition, and for Your own sake deliver us, and grant us mercy before those who have carried us into exile, in order that the whole earth may come to know that You are the Lord our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by Your name.

Personal Challenge

This passage in Baruch provides an interesting spin on the purpose of our prayers and their answers from God. We should not just pray for answers to our needs. God loves us and will always show His mercy to us. If we truly believe that and trust that He will always take care of us, then our prayer should be that others might see His hand at work in our lives and know Him. The answers to our prayers are temporary because we are still living in a temporal world, but if those answers show another person the way to our Father, then they can be eternal answers. Glory be to God, and may others come to know Him through the blessings He pours out on His children.

Ephesians 5:1-2

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Personal Challenge

“Be imitators of God as dear children.” One of my fond memories of my children, when they were young, was how they tried to imitate me. The loved me and looked up to me, wanting to be like me. This was very humbling to me and reminded me of how much responsibility I bore as a parent. Isn’t this what God wants from us? He wants us to come to Him as innocent children, looking up to Him, and desiring to be like Him. And, what is it that He wants us to imitate? His love! Glory be to God!

Baruch 1:11-12

And pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his son Belshazzar, that their days on earth may be like the days of heaven. And the Lord will give us strength and enlighten our eyes, and we will live under the shelter of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and under the shelter of Belshazzar his son, and we will serve them for many days and find mercy in their sight.

Personal Challenge

Our political climate in our country has become very divisive and polarized. We have two parties that are constantly at each other’s throat and willing to sacrifice the needs of their constituents to achieve their personal agendas. This division and polarization has also become pervasive amongst the citizens of our country. We are reminded here, by Baruch, that God commanded His children to pray for the king of Babylon and his son, to pray that they would have long lives. Why is this significant for us today? Because God’s people had every reason to hate their new king. He had conquered their promised land and carried them off to exile in Babylonia. They are now living under his tyrannical rule, his expectations of their worship of him, and his ownership of them. Isn’t this what we are also called to do? To pray for our leaders whether we voted for them or not? To support and encourage them whether we agree with them or not? It grieves me to see so many people jumping on the bandwagon of divisiveness and polarization. If we desire to live in our land with strength from our God and enlightenment in our eyes then we should pray for our leaders. If we do not like the ones that we have we have the ability to vote them out of office and rally our friends to join us, but we must start doing this positively and not negatively. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Ephesians 4:31-32

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Personal Challenge

Living a good and godly life, a righteous life, is a life long effort. In many respects, it is similar to planting and tending a garden. First, the soil must be prepared for the crop that is to be planted, This work is accomplished in our hearts and minds by our Lord and the Holy Spirit when we are baptized and chrismated into His body. Once the seeds are planted (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) then we must continue to cultivate these seeds to help them to grow and to not die. Part of this cultivation is pulling out the weeds (bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking) that continually spring up. But we do not stop there. We replace these weeds with new seeds of kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness so that the original crop can flourish and bear great fruit. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Jeremiah 40:6-9

‘Behold, I bring her health and healing for her wounds, and I will show them how to obey. Yes, I will heal this city and bring about peace and faithfulness. I shall return the captives of Judah and Israel and will restore them, even as before. I will cleanse them from all their wrongdoings by which they sinned against Me. I will not remember their sins by which they sinned against Me and withdrew from Me. This shall be for the gladness, praise, and majesty of all the people of the earth, who shall hear all the good things I will do. They shall fear and be provoked concerning all the good things and the peace I shall bring upon them.’

Encouraging Words

God’s never-ending, unconditional love is truly amazing. Just as the Israelites of old, many of us today wander away from His side and force Him to come and rescue us from our sins. I know that I do this more often than I would like to admit. And yet, God in His great mercy, in His great love, continues to pursue us, find us, and bring us health and healing for our wounds/ He continually returns us from the captivity of death and sin that we keep selling ourselves to. He cleanses us, wiping the mud of the world off of us so that the diamond within us shines. He gives us gladness and joy over and over again. That is unconditional love. Glory be to God!

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Personal Challenge

Words are extremely powerful. They can build up beautiful relationships and edify both God and the hearer as well as tear down the strongest people and destroy others. If we truly desire to love our God to our fullest then we must love others. If we truly desire to love others as God would have us love than then we must have words in our mouths, thoughts in our minds, and feelings in hearts that will only edify them and impart grace to them. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Jeremiah 39:27

I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Shall anything be hidden from Me?

Personal Challenge

We humans can be so dense sometimes. We worship our God whom we claim is all knowing and everywhere present and yet we choose to sin as if we can hide our actions from Him. He sees us all the time and grieves for us when we choose to sin. He loves us so much that He became a human being and chose to not to sin so that we could follow in His footsteps. Nothing is hidden from Him so we must choose to live our lives as open books for Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!