Hosea 2:20-22
I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.
“It shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will listen to heaven,
And it shall listen to the earth.
The earth shall listen to the corn,
And the wine, and the oil;
And they shall listen to Jezreel.
Encouraging Words
What a blessing it is to know that our God, the creator of all is choosing to betroth Himself to us so that we might know Him. To God be the glory!
Romans 14:7-10
For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Personal Challenge
Paul makes it pretty clear here that I do not have the right, the authority, or the charge to judge others. That is Gods’ role and His alone. I am charged to love my neighbor, to honor, respect, and take care of those in need, and to love and give my cheek (both of them to my enemy). Our early church fathers taught that Jesus is the Lord of both the saint and the sinner, of the dead and the alive (both physically and spiritually). I, for one, do not want to stand before the judgment seat of my loving Lord and be judged for how much I chose to judge others. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
Sirach 50:22-24
And now bless the God of all,
Who does great things in every way,
Who exalts our days from our birth
And deals with us according to His mercy.
May He give us gladness of heart,
And may there be peace in our days,
In Israel as in the days of old.
May He entrust with us His mercy,
And let Him redeem us in our days.
Encouraging Words
Ben Sirach finishes his book by reminding us who God is and how we should relate to Him. He is the God of all and we should bless Him at all times. He is continually doing great things. He is always pouring His mercy open us and exalts all the days of our lives. He is our source of gladness of heart and peace. He gives us His mercy so that we can bestow mercy on those around us. He will redeem us all the days of our lives. Glory be to Him!
Romans 14:3-4
Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
Personal Challenge
In Orthodoxy, we have many traditions that have become part of the practice of our faith. Some of these can be traced back to the beginnings of the Christian Church. Paul is teaching us here in his letter to the Romans that many of our traditions are practiced to teach us how to discipline our minds and bodies so that we are drawn closer to our Lord, and that these practiced traditions should never divide us from our brothers and sisters. One of these traditions is fasting. We do not fast because it is required for our salvation. We do not fast so that like the Pharisee we can show everyone how good a Christian we are. We fast so that we can discipline the passions of our body and ultimately the passions that affect our souls. Just as the athlete exercises to build the muscles of his body, so do we do things like fasting to exercise the muscles of our spiritual body. We should never compare our attempts of discipline to others or condemn others if they do practice these disciplines. We are to put the love for our neighbor above all else except our love for our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!
Sirach 39:33-35
All the works of the Lord are good,
And He will supply every need in its hour.
No one can say, “This is worse than that,”
For all things will be well pleasing in their time.
So now sing praise with all your heart and voice,
And bless the name of the Lord.
Encouraging Words
Our Lord is all good, all of the fine, and is always pouring goodness into our lives. Unfortunately, we often do not recognize what He considers as good for us as good and coming from Him. He supplies for our every need. His supply is exactly what we need and not necessarily what we want. What we want is not always that which is best for us. Knowing this we can rejoice in knowing that our Lord cares for us so much and desires the best for us. Glory be to God!
Romans 13:1
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Personal Challenge
Paul calls us ambassadors. In his mind, we who claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior are no longer citizens of this earth, but citizens of heaven. As such, the earthly governing powers that we are under, are of this World and we are subject to them as ambassadors that represent the kingdom of heaven. This means that we respect these leaders, leaders that God has put into authority, and obey the laws of the land, Only when they choose to defy God and expect us to be disobedient to God, then we can defy our rulers. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
Sirach 39:1-3
How different is the man who devotes himself
To the study of the law of the Most High.
He will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients
And be occupied with their prophecies.
He will preserve the discourse of notable men
And penetrate the subtleties of parables.
He will seek out the hidden meanings of proverbs
And be engaged in the riddles of parables.
Personal Challenge
Our journey toward heaven and eternity must be filled with seeking to know God. This takes work, time, and devotion. We have been given the scriptures to teach us on this journey. We have been given those who have gone before us to show us the way. We have been given the traditions of the church so that the path can be seen. Let the journey continue. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!
Romans 12:14-18
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Personal Challenge
John Doanne once made the statement, “No man is an island,” Paul’s teaching to the Romans, and to us, also teaches that we must live our lives in relationship to others. We are never isolated from the rest of the world. Even the early desert fathers taught that their actions, or inactions, as secluded hermits, still affected everyone else in the world, as well as creation itself. Whether we choose to sin or to do something for the glory of God, we affect others. In this passage, Paul gives us great guidelines for living in a way that glorifies God and blesses those around us. Glory be to God!
Sirach 37:13-15
Stand firm on the counsel of your heart,
For no one is more faithful to you than it.
For a man’s soul sometimes tells him more
Than seven watchmen sitting high on a watchtower.
And in all matters, pray to the Most High
That He may direct your way in truth.
Encouraging Words
When we choose to yield our lives, and most importantly our wills, to our loving Lord, He fills our hearts with Himself. It is this new and regenerated heart that the writer is referring to. When God possesses our heart and fills it with His love and wisdom, then it is no longer our own, personal counsel that we are listening to, but His. Glory be to God!
Verse of the Day 