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John 8:7-9

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

Personal Challenge

Jesus reminds us that we must certainly explore the depths of our own hearts and purge our lives of ALL sin before we can call out someone else for their sins. I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, this means that I will never be able to judge another for their sins because mine sins are ever present. What He would rather that I do is to love that sinner in the midst of their sin because that is what He does. Love is at the core of the incarnation of Christ. Love is at the core of all of the healings, teachings, and miracles that He did while incarnate. Love is at the core of His death, burial, and resurrection. His expectation of me is that love will be at the core of everything that I think, say, and do. Glory be to God!

Luke 19:45-46

Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves. ’”

Personal Challenge

Since Paul in one of his letters describes our hearts as the temple of God, I must examine my heart and ask if I have turned it into a ‘den of thieves’? Is my heart more concerned about the cares and concerns of the world than it is the cares and concerns of the kingdom of God? Can those around me look at the fruit of my life and see someone that reflects Christ or someone that is no different than everyone else in the world? Is my heart a ‘house of prayer’ or just my own, personal, self-centered house? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Luke 7:31-35

And the Lord said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying:

‘We played the flute for you,And you did not dance;We mourned to you,And you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Personal Challenge

Just as the Pharisees in the day of Jesus were fickle in their religiousness to recognize either John the Baptist or Jesus for who they were because neither of them fit their vision of a prophet or the Messiah, so too do so many of us in the church today fail to recognize the hand of God around us or in our everyday life. We hold on so tightly to our own opinions, our own rights to do what we want to do, that we neglect the commands of our Lord to love God and our neighbor above ourselves. we claim that because we are free by modern American standards then we can do what want in our lives and that God, just like everyone else, must adjust their standards to fit ours. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 11:25

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.”

Encouraging Words

We are told to come to our Lord Jesus Christ as a little child. How does a child behave in situations like this? In humility. In truthfulness. Without guile or contempt. With excitement and awe. And the list goes on. The problem with the wise and the prudent is that they let what they think they know, get in the way of what they don’t know. God wants us to come to Him with a childlike heart and mind, full of humility, love, trust, faith, and acceptance. It is when we approach Him this way that He reveals to us the truths that He wants us to know. Glory be to God!

Matthew 9:36-38

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Personal Challenge

We are not only admonished to pray for the sheep that need to be harvested and for God to provide more workers, but we are also expected to be ready to hear His call and act upon it if He chooses us to be one of the workers. It is never too late to be called to enter into His workforce. Glory be to God!

Matthew 9:2

Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

Personal Challenge

Faith is really a collective thing. We see here that Christ heals a paralytic man because of the faith of his friends. We have become such an individualistically focused society that we neglect to be there for each other, to lift each other up, or to seek the best in each other. It has become easier for us to tear others down rather than to build them up. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 8:23-27

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Personal Challenge

So, what kind of faith do I really have? Jesus told us that if we follow Him then our lives will be filled with turmoil and strife because the world does not like Him or His followers. Do I trust Him enough to believe that as long as I stay in His boat the seas around me can be in whatever tempest that gets stirred up, but I will be safe and sound? We are told by the presumptive leaders of our nation that we should trust in them and that they will carry us through the storms facing us and our country today. We are told by the media who we should trust in. The world tells us to trust in it, in wealth, in stuff, in everything but God. And yet, with all of these proclamations of who to trust in, the tempest continues to rail on. It is Jesus who I chose to put my trust in. Just as in the story of Noah, Jesus is my ark. Or in the story of the parting of the Red Sea, Jesus is my straight and dry path forward through the tempest. Glory be to God!

Wisdom of Sirach 36:1-4 LXX

Have mercy on us, O Lord, the God of all, and look upon us,
And put Your fear on all the nations.
Raise Your hand against foreign nations
And let them see Your power.
As in us You have been sanctified before them,
So in them may You be made great before us.
Let them know You as we also have known You,
For there is no God but You, O Lord.

Personal Challenge

If we read this passage through the filter that we, God’s children, are not citizens of the earthly kingdoms that we live in, but ambassadors of the kingdom of God, then we come away with a very interesting perspective. This passage does not say anything about God making this earthly kingdom great and godly. In other words, as Christians, we should not spend our time praying that God makes America a nation that is all Christian. We should be praying that He will raise up His people, His nation, where we live, and help us to be beacons of light of His love, mercy, grace, and salvation. This is how we bring people to Him. America is an earthly nation that will always be comprised of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, pagans, and everything in between. We, as members of God’s heavenly kingdom should live our lives so that those who do not know Him, want to know Him because of how we live our lives. Glory be to God!

Wisdom of Sirach 27:4-7 LXX

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains;
So a man’s filth remains in the way he reasons.
As a furnace tests a potter’s vessels,
So the test of a man is in the way he reasons.
As fruit reveals how a tree is cultivated,
So a man’s reasoning process reveals his heart.
Do not praise a man before he reveals the way he reasons,
For this is the way a man is tested.

Personal Challenge

How do I truly reason through things in life? I have never really thought about this until now as I read and meditate on these verses. Do I take the time to examine the situation through the lens of the teaching of the Church or do I just use my own best judgment? What would Jesus say about it? Do I apply that judgement through the lens of loving God and loving my neighbor? I have not really thought that much upon the process of my reasoning, which no one else can see, and how that reflects my relationship with God. One thing is very clear, though, and that is that the root of my reasoning should always be in my Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!