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Sirach 7:1-3

Do no evil things,
And evil will never overtake you.
Stay away from wrongdoing,
And it will turn away from you.
My son, do not sow on the furrows of wrongdoing,
And you will not reap the same things sevenfold.

Encouraging Words

Sometimes the scriptures are so very crystal clear. Stay away from evil and evil things will not overtake you. Do not sow wrongdoing and you will not reap wrongdoing. Even with this clarity, we still choose far too often to dabble in evil and wrongdoing because it is attractive to our carnal bodies. The good news, the encouraging words, are that Jesus destroyed death and the power that sin holds over us so that we could follow in His footsteps and develop the ability in our lives to say “No!” to evil and wrongdoing. Glory be to God!

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Personal Challenge

Our challenge is to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ so tightly that we are never ashamed or afraid to share it with those around of. This is becoming more difficult as the world that we live in becomes more hostile toward Jesus and anything that is tied to Him, however, this is where our righteousness both grows and is confirmed, by putting our faith and our lives, in Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 6:18-19

My son, from your youth up, choose instruction,
And you will find wisdom also into old age.
Come to her as one who plows and sows,
And wait expectantly for her good fruits;
For in her work you will labor a little while,
Then you will quickly eat of her fruit.

Personal Challenge

I am so thankful that I was blessed with the opportunity to not only grow up in the farming country but to also have been involved in many different aspects of the farming and animal husbandry part of that world. It has made it so much easier to understand many of the scriptures that use images based on farming. Wisdom, or Jesus, as the early church fathers determined wisdom to be, is someone that we must pursue aggressively and passionately throughout our lives. We do not get to know Him deeply by just reading another book or listening to another sermon or podcast. Getting to know Jesus and acquiring His wisdom is like planting and growing an orchard. It takes time to prepare the soil for deep-rooted trees, time to plant the seedlings and nurture them until they are ready to be grafted, time of pruning and nurturing the tree until it is ready to produce fruit, and then spending the remainder of the years continuing to work with the trees until they have run the full gambit of their life, This is what we must do with our own lives, our own hearts, and our own minds. Without this lifelong effort, we will never taste the good fruits of wisdom (Jesus). Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Acts 28:30-31

Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

Encouraging Words

Paul is such a good example for all Christians to follow. Even though he was still imprisoned, he would not stop doing the very thing that got him there, proclaiming Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Paul never shied away from living openly for his Savior because he knew that he owed everything to Him and that everyone needed to hear the good news. May we all be encouraged and enabled to be Pauls in our lives. Glory be to God!

Sirach 6:14-17

A faithful friend is a strong shelter,
And he who finds one finds a treasure.
There is nothing that can take the place of a faithful friend,
And there is no way to measure his worth.
A faithful friend is a medicine of life,
And those who fear the Lord will find him.
He who fears the Lord guides his friendship rightly,
Because as he is, so also is his neighbor.

Personal Challenge

Our modern culture makes it difficult to find the faithful friend such as the one that is pointed out in this passage. We live in a very individualistic thinking society which makes it challenging to find a friend that is interested in investing in this kind of relationship. We also have the challenge of being a very mobile society in that many of us have moved enough that we no longer have friends around us that we have known for a long time or we live far enough apart that we do not get the chance to see each other often enough to build this kind of relationship. Maybe Sirach had the same problem when he said, “And he who finds one finds a treasure.” Nonetheless, it is still a worthy goal in life to seek to build relationships with others with the hope that one day a faithful friendship of this type will result. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Acts 21:13

Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Personal Challenge

Just as Jesus was resolute the week before Palm Sunday to go to Jerusalem, knowing full well that He would be put to death, Paul was resolute to return to Jerusalem to preach the gospel of his Lord knowing full well that the people there wanted to take his life. This is the level of commitment that our Lord desires of us, to be willing to give our lives for Him and His message of the good news about eternal life. Living a spiritual life that is grounded in Jesus Christ is not going to be a walk in the park. If we are striving to be like Christ then we will be despised by the world like He was. We will lose friends like He lost friends. We will be persecuted like He was. Am I willing to follow my Lord this way and have my heart broken by all of my loved ones who try to talk me out of it? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 5:10-11

Be established in your understanding
And let your word be consistent.
Be quick to listen
And give your answer with patience.

Personal Challenge

We were encouraged by our Lord to live our lives openly and honestly. He told us to speak such that our “Yes!” was “Yes!” and our “No!” was “No!”. This is a way of being that is getting lost in this age of individualism and the acceptance of relativism. Here the writer of Sirach reminds us to always be consistent in our speech and to let it be driven and established in the understanding that we can only get from our Lord. He also reminds us to be quick to listen, not just to hear the other, but to truly listen to the other in a patient, loving, and humble way so that we can only respond when it is necessary, and then to respond with love. My Lord knows how far I need to go in my life to be able to act this way. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have Mercy on me, the sinner!

Acts 20:29

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Personal Challenge

In our modern, self-reliant age, not only are humans focused on being self-reliant but so are our modern-day churches. By being this way, we actually begin to shut God out of our lives and believe that we can do things without Him. Paul was reminding the other early church members and us that we need to be aware that there will be savage attempts to destroy the church and some of those attacks will come from within the church. We cannot resist these attacks on our own. We need to depend on God at all times and trust in Him only and follow His guidance. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!