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Sirach 14:20-22

Blessed is the man who practices wisdom
And discourses with insight.
Whoever ponders the ways of wisdom in his heart
Will also reflect on her secrets.
Pursue wisdom like a tracker
And lie in wait on her paths.

Personal Challenge

Sirach reminds us that the most important thing to pursue in life is Wisdom and the early church fathers tell us that the wisdom referred to in the Old Testament is fully embodied in Jesus Christ. So, what we are being told here is that the most important thing to pursue in life is Jesus Christ. By doing this when we speak to others we speak with godly insight. When we dwell up Jesus and ponder His teachings and ways, we will learn the secrets of God. We need to pursue Jesus as a tracker pursues a deer, relentlessly for the life of his family depends on this pursuit. We are to lie in wait for every opportunity to grab Jesus in our lives. Glory be to God!

Romans 4:5-8

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Personal Challenge

Romans is quite often the most misunderstood and misquoted book in the Bible. I am no biblical scholar so I do not claim to be able to interpret this book, as well as the rest of the scriptures, properly. That is why I rely on the teachings of the saints that have gone before me and the traditions of the church to inform me of what the scriptures say. From what I can gather, this passage is reminding is that striving to live by the law and doing works according to the law with the intent of gaining salvation will never achieve that goal. The works are futile. We can only gain salvation by putting our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, the only person that has ever fulfilled the law, or ever will.

It is through Him, and Him alone, that we are saved. He is the one who bestows the blessing of eternal life upon us. It is at this point that the work that we perform out of our love for Him and our gratitude for what He has done for us, that these works become blessed. The faith must always come first. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 14:12-14

Remember that death does not delay,
And the covenant of Hades has not been shown to you.
Before you die, do good to a friend,
And reach out and give to him based on your ability.
Do not let a day go by without doing something good,
And do not let any of your desire for doing good escape you.

Personal Challenge

No matter how much we try to avoid it, we will have an appointment with death that we must all attend. It is inevitable that we will all physically die. The other certainty is that no one knows the time or place that this event will happen. This is why Sirach reminds us to constantly be looking for opportunities in our lives to do good to those around us. We are to love our family, our friends, our co-workers, our brothers and sisters in the faith, and the stranger amongst us as if today were the last day of our lives, for it might be. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Personal Challenge

We have all been created in the image of God, As we live out our lives we are wired to live our lives for the glory of God. This is within us whether we know it or not, whether we desire it or not. Since we live in a fallen world and choose to sin, we will never be able to reach that state of living for the glory of God. This is where Jesus becomes critical to our lives. He too was created in the image of God when He became incarnate. He was fully man and fully God. As a fully human being, He and only He was able to live a sinless Life and therefore, as a human being succeeds at achieving the glory of God and therefore defeating the power that death had over each of us. Glory be to God.

Sirach 11:7-8

Do not find fault before you examine a situation.
First, understand it, and then make your judgment.
Do not answer before you have listened,
And do not interrupt someone while he is talking.

Personal Challenge

Such great words of wisdom from Sirach that can be applied to every aspect of our lives. It is so easy to step into a situation and immediately begin to form opinions, make judgments, and assign fault. we are told here to start by examining the situation. This often takes a lot of time and effort but is necessary to truly understand what has gone on leading up to the situation as well as what is truly going on at this point in time. We have a tendency to jump to conclusions without all of the facts. The second instruction is one that I know needs to be worked on in my life. we need to spend more time listening to the other person and try to hear what they are saying before we open our mouths. And it is really not possible to be formulating our response and listen at the same time. It is also not treating the other person with love and respect if we interrupt them while they are speaking. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive me for doing this all too often and have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 3:10-12

As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Personal Challenge

In the nine verses before these, Paul asks a whole series of questions to which he provides this quote from the Old Testament as an answer. God alone is righteous and just. God is perfect in His love for His creation. We, however, because we live in a fallen and sinful world are not righteous. We may strive to be good and holy, but yet we still stumble and sin. We continually put ourselves first. It does not matter what church we go to, what family we grew up in, or our status in life. We still need the righteousness of Jesus to cover and redeem us from our sin. We can only become righteous through Him. That is the point that Paul is driving home. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 7:32-36

Stretch forth your hand to the poor,
That your blessing may be complete.
Let the kindness of giving be shown
In the presence of all the living,
And do not withhold kindness from the dead.
Do not withdraw yourself from those who weep,
And mourn with those who mourn.
Do not hesitate to visit a sick man,
For by such visits you will be loved.
With all your words, remember the time you will die,
And you will never sin.

Command With a Promise

Many Christians wonder what we can do in our lives to avoid sinning. First, and foremost, we must keep our eyes, minds, and hearts focused on Jesus. This passage, however, gives us some other actions that we can take that will keep us from sinning. We can reach out and help the poor. We can show kindness to those around us in so many different ways. When we have people around us who are mourning or weeping, we can come alongside them and mourn and weep with them. We can visit the sick and be encouragers to them. We can watch our words and speak loving, caring, and healing words to those around us. As we focus on meeting the needs of others we will not be distracted toward sin. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 2:11

For there is no partiality with God.

Personal Challenge

There is no excuse for a person who claims to be a follower of Christ to also carry a prejudice, Here in Romans we are told that God does not have any partiality when it comes to loving His children. He does not care about the color of our skin or the sound of our dialect. He does not care if we are rich or poor, naked or clothed with finery, from the right side of the track or the wrong side. He even does not care if we are sinners or righteous. God loves us all and desires that we all enter into His arc of protection, the church. So, this means that I cannot hold prejudice in my heart for any of the above, or anyone else for that matter, and still proclaim to be a child of God. This is hard teaching, but it will be even harder when we stand before our God someday and have to account for all those times that we acted out our prejudices. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!