Category: Uncategorized

Psalm 119:37 (118:37 LXX)

Turn away my eyes that I may not see vanity;
Give me life in Your way.

Personal Challenge

Not only should I strive to take every thought captive so that I do not sin, but I should also turn over the members of my body to prevent them from sinning as well. As we live in the age of information and uninhibited lifestyles, the eyes have become the portal for every kind of atrocity that one can imagine. Here the psalmist lays out the perfect way to deal with this sensory overload, asking God to turn his eyes away from those things that will separate him from his Creator. I too wish that my Lord would give me life His way and not mine. Glory be to God!

Hebrews 4:13

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Encouraging Words

This verse can be either oppressive or liberating. The oppressive view is that God, the great judge, is watching my every move and keeping account of everything that I think, say, or do, especially the bad things so that in the day of my judgment He can slam the gavel and call out “guilty!” the liberating view is that God, the loving and merciful Father is everywhere, at all times, and He is watching over me as a mother hen watches over her chicks. He allows me to exercise my free will and coaches and teaches me that living rightly is better for both me and those around me. I prefer the liberating view. It helps me to know that He is always there with me and creates within me a desire to do right for Him, to please Him, to impress Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, and thank you for opening the doors of heaven to me and destroying death’s hold upon me.

Psalm 63:8 (62:9 LXX)

My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand takes hold of me.

Personal Challenge

Oh how much I need to grow in my relationship with my Lord so that I could claim like the psalmist that my soul follows so closely in the footsteps of my Lord that He could reach back and take hold of my hand along the journey. The sin of independence drives me to do my own thing, my own way, in my own time, and, therefore, the gap between my Lord and me widens. As the disciples of the rabbis of the past used to walk so closely to their teachers that they were covered by the dust for his footsteps, so too do I need to follow in the steps of my Rabbi that I am recognized by His dust all over me. Glory be to God!

2 Timothy 4:1-4

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Personal Challenge

Has this time come? If not, we are certainly in the season of this time. We see that it has become so easy for people to not only challenge the sound doctrine of the church, but also show disrespect and disdain for those who have been ordained to teach this doctrine. We have come to a season where we choose to define our doctrine by our own desires, by our itching ears and our desires to have them tickled. We have chosen to abandon the truth by redefining it to match our desires and, therefore, turn aside from these truths to fables because we believe we can define them better. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! And where do I fit into all of this, or what role do I have to play? I am called to submit myself to my Lord and His Church, to work within it in order to serve it and help it to grow. I am not called to be divisive or manipulative. I must choose to follow in the footsteps of Christ and give my life for His Church, His Bride. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Titus 3:9-10

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self- condemned.

Personal Challenge

Am I being told here to never engage in a dispute? Absolutely not! I am being told that there are those things that are foolish to get in a dispute over. This list is fitting for the time that it was written, but for our day and age there are still issues that are foolish to argue over. One that we are always to be willing to dispute over is the divisive person. Today there are so many ways that divisiveness has become acceptable. I mus first look at my own heart and both the words that come out of my mouth and how they come out to make sure that I am not being divisive. Sarcasm, put-downs, gossip, back-biting, etc., are all ways that I can be divisive, so I must always keep my tongue in check. However, when I encounter someone else who is being divisive, especially in the body of Christ, I am told to reject them after admonishing them a couple of times. It is clear hear that they are responsible for their own divisiveness and are being self-condemning. It is not only acceptable for me to separate myself from them after properly admonishing them, but also it is expected of me to do this so that I myself do not become divisive like them. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalm 73:26-27 (72:26-27 LXX)

My heart and my flesh fail,
O God of my heart; and God is my portion forever.
For behold, those who keep themselves far away from You shall perish;
You destroy away from You all who act unfaithfully.

Personal Challenge

Is it possible to be near to God and yet far from Him at the same time? I believe it is. It is possible to know much about God, His kingdom, His Church, and yet not embrace what we know about Him and let it change our lives. This is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. For if I really “know” God, I will be less worldly and more godly. If Wisdom has permeated my heart and mind then I will be humble before my God and fellow man and live my life in a spirit of love. If my heart of flesh has been replaced with the heart that only God can put in me then I will cease living a life of this world and live a life for Christ. Glory be to God! 

Psalm 73:24 (72:24 LXX)

With Your counsel You guide me,
And with glory You take hold of me.

Encouraging Words

We live in an age where people believe that they have all of the authority that is needed to interpret the scriptures and the teachings of the fathers. However, the Church has taught that the interpretation belongs to the community and the true interpretation comes from decades, centuries, and even millennia of trying and testing the interpretations for validity and truth. This does not mean that I cannot read the scriptures and early church fathers and apply their truths to my life. Isn’t this the purpose of searching the scripture…so that I might be changed and my thoughts, desires, and actions be centered on Christ? If I am reading the scriptures to tell everyone else what they need to do then I have missed the point Guide me, O Lord, guide me!

James 4:1-7

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Personal Challenge

Why is it aht the modern, western church is so ridden with divisions and splits. Maybe it is because of allowing so much of the world into our churches. We demand that the music sound the way that we like to hear it. We expect that the teaching will tickle our ears and when it doesn’t we threaten to leave or worse yet stay and make everyone miserable. Are we not becoming the warring and sinful people that this passage is talking about? How is it that the Eastern church has been able to survive for 2000 years and not be divided and changed by the demanding people? Maybe because at the heart of true orthodoxy is humility, the willingness to accept that the Church is not mine to control and manipulate, the willingness to accept that I belong to the Church and should change to become one of Her faithful. It is not that our church is perfect, for it is filled with imperfect people who are on journeys toward theosis. The Church is an ark that provides us shelter in this broken and fallen world. It is my responsibility to serve Her and yield to Her. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!