Matthew 10:28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy to get caught up in the things that are happening around us in our world and to let that begin to drive us into a state of fear and apprehension. When we get to this state we either cower in our homes or begin to embrace conspiracies in order to explain it away. As followers of Christ we have nothing to fear. Even our death, which is guaranteed to happen sooner or later is in His hands, as are the life after that death. If we fear anything it should be a fearful respect for our God, who holds our eternal and temporal lives in His hands, and continually pray for His forgiveness and mercy. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

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.”

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.”

Encouraging Words

One of the things that struck me in a positive way when I starting looking into the Eastern Orthodox Church was the focus on “we” and “us” rather than “I” and “me”. We are the Church of Christ, a body comprised of many parts, many people. When one of us sins, all are impacted. When one of us feeds a hungry person, all are touched. When we pray for one, we pray for all. We do not go through our journey to theosis alone. Thinking this way makes me accountable to all. It makes it important for me to care about my brother or sister and how their needs might be met. Just as the faith of the friends of the paralytic contributed to his healing, so can our faith lead to the healing and restoration to our fellow members of the body of Christ. Glory be to God!

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

One of the errors that many who proclaim to be Christians makes is the assumption that now that I am a follower of Christ, everything in life will be smooth and glorious. We still live in a fallen world. We still sin and so does everyone around us. This fallenness and sinfulness causes bad things to happen. Even Jesus had storms swell up around Him. If we are truly His followers then we will be looking to Him in both the good times and the bad. Our faith in Him needs to grow to the point the we don’t even recognize the storms because we know that we are in His care, in His boat. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 8:13

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

Encouraging Words

True belief in Jesus and the work that He has done and continues to do is not just evidenced in our actions. We have come to a place in our modern Christian thinking that a person’s belief in Jesus is seen in how often they attend church or the things that they do for their church or the money they give to the church or the books about Christianity that they read. Even though these things may be evidence of our love for God and our belief in Him we do know that even non-believers do these things as well. Jesus reminds us in this account of the centurion and the healing of his servant that the evidence of his faith had nothing to do with any of the things above but in the unfaltering belief that Jesus could heal his servant right where He was just by His spoken word. Our belief is not measured by God on our actions or words, but on that which is in our hearts. Do we entrust everything in our lives to Him? Do we live by faith that God will meet our every need? Do we live as if there is nothing, and we are nothing, without Him? This is the measure of our belief. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Matthew 7:24-25

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

Personal Challenge

Jesus wants us to know that our Christian life does not stop on Sunday after we attend church and hear His words taught. That is just the beginning. We are to be putting His teachings into action every moment of every day. It is also important that everything that we think, do, and say, be founded on Him, our rock. Glory be to God!

Matthew 7:21

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Personal Challenge

Christianity is quickly becoming a label that we apply to ourselves because we find it easy and beneficial for us. Jesus makes it clear here that we are not His followers just because we proclaim it so. We are His followers if we follow Him. We must be doing the will of His Father, which will almost always be contradictory to the things of this world. If we are not loving our neighbor and caring for those in need, then we are not following Him. If we are doing whatever we want, whenever we want, and not submitting to Him, then we are not following Him. He wants us to practice what He preaches, not just preach it. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on are, the sinner!

Matthew 7:15-16

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

Personal Challenge

We are warned by Jesus to be on our guard for those who will come into our churches and seek to disrupt them for their own gain. We often take this warning to be talking about major false prophets who are obvious in their attacks on the church, however it is those who take on little aspects of the church and attempt to change them to their own liking that are the more dangerous ones. They are more subtle in their approach, which easily deceives those who do not keep up their guard. We are to be on our guard at all times and to be careful not to fall prey to these perverters of the truth. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!