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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

Oh, how quickly I find myself reaching for the stones of judgment when dealing with someone who in my mind, and heart, has committed a sin that I have judges as grievous. And then…my loving, non-judgmental, God reminds me that, “He who is without sin…” can go ahead and cast the first stone. My only recourse is to drop the stone and walk away in my own sin. In Orthodoxy, we are taught that we are all accountable for each other’s sins as well as our own. My sins impact you and your sins impact me. If I am truly active trying to live out the second of the two great commandments by loving my neighbor, then I will be active in their lives, loving them, walking through their repentance with them, and allowing them to do the same in my life. This changes the perspective about church family and the need to be loving and caring.

1 Peter 4:10-11

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Personal Challenge

What is the ultimate reason that we do what we do with our lives as Christians? To glorify God! And to help us do this God has given us different spiritual gifts. These gifts are to be used to build up the body of Christ, and, therefore, to glorify God. They are not ours to use for ourselves on to hide under a bushel. Glory be to God!

Mark 12:27

“He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”

Encouraging Words

One mistaken doctrine that is prevalent today is that if we are followers of Christ that we will go to heaven when we die. Jesus taught, however, that when He takes over as Lord of our life we immediately become residents of heaven. He claimed that the kingdom of heaven is amongst us…now. We are aliens in this earthly realm now, or as Paul calls us, ambassadors representing our true home, which is heaven. What a wonderful promise to hold on to as we deal with our daily lives. Glory be to God!

Luke 17:15-16

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

Personal Challenge

As I read this account of the healed Samaritan, a race of people that were outcast and despised, I must look at my own heart and wonder if I have ever returned to God, and with a loud voice glorify Him and fall down at His feet giving thanks. I was blind and He gave me sight. I was deaf and He gave me hearing. I was dead and He gave me life. Do I show my thanks to Him the way this man did or do I take it for granted and act as if I am entitle to His love, grace, and healing power? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

1 Peter 3:7

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

Personal Challenge

Peter is guiding us here on what our role is as a husband. My wife is my partner and a joint heir in the grace of life that God is pouring out. We became one flesh when we married and my responsibility is to treat her with understanding, honor her above all else in this earthly realm, and to be a blessing in her life. If I desire a close relationship with God, where my prayers are not hindered, then I must be tending the garden of my marriage and nurturing my wife. Glory be to God and continue prayers that I will do this all the days of my life.

1 Timothy 4:12

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Personal Challenge

One of the things that I love doing with my life is working with youth, specifically the high school and college age youth. Indeed, I believe it is a calling and a gift that God has blessed me with. I cannot count how many times I have been asked by other adults when I was going to grow up and stop hanging out with the “kids”. My answer is always, “Never!” Paul saw the need, and the great value, of investing in the youth of the church. He nurtured and taught Timothy knowing that the future of the church would fall into hands like his. What better way to pass on the wisdom and gifts that God has bestowed on us? What better way to be kept young and always embracing the new. May God be glorified through the youth of His Church.

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

Here I go again…another passage that I have read multiple times and now seeing a different meaning in it for the first time. Is not my heart the temple of God? We are taught that when we have received Christ and the Holy Spirit through baptism and chrismation that we are cleansed from our sins, redeemed, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. He now dwells within us as His living temple. But it is still possible for me to sin because I have the free will to choose what I want to do in my life. And over time, because of my sinful choices, this temple begins to be filled with the “money changers” and “thieves”. As I confess these sins they are forgiven, but if I am not careful with my choices what remains behind are habits, tendencies, and even additions. These are much more subtle and lie in wait for the next opportunity to seize a temptation and turn it into a sin. This is why I need my Jesus to continually upset the carts and tables in my heart and throw these thieves out. I cannot do this on my own. I need Him to be the Lord and High Priest of this temple. My job is to continually turn to Him, confessing my sins, repenting of my choices that are sinful, and be in submission to Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!