Today, the Thursday before Pascha (Easter) we are reminded of Jesus’ last full night alive. A night full of agony and betrayal. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Tobit 4:16 (LXX)

From your bread, give to him who is hungry, and from your clothing, give to the naked. If you have more than you need, do almsgiving, and do not let your eye envy the almsgiving when you do it.

Personal Challenge

As we proceed through our final days of anticipation of our Lords’ death, burial, and resurrection, I am reminded by this verse in Tobit that one of our primary missions in life should be almsgiving. Isn’t this what Jesus did when He gave up His place is the heavenly realms to become man and give His life for us? Did He not come to us and feed our great hunger for a relationship with the living God? Did He not come to us and clothe us who were naked with His cloak of righteousness? This is what He asks us to do with the abundance that we have. He asks that we share with those in need and do it joyfully. Glory be to God!

Luke 3:21-22

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus was amongst us as fully man and fully God. However, as a human being, He did one significant thing that was different than all of the rest of us. He chose, by His own human free will to not sin. So, if He was sinless, then why was He baptized, which at that time represented repentance from sins committed? The early church fathers have a myriad of reasons why Jesus did this, but one that stands out to me is the one that Jesus entered into the waters in order to redeem them and make them holy again. God created all to be holy and righteous. But when Adam and Eve sinned, all of creation was corrupted. Water is our life blood, Nothing can survive without it. When Jesus entered into the waters of the Jordan to be baptized, we believe that He reclaimed both the water and all of creation that is nourished by it, once again as God’s holy and righteous creation. He began the process of ushering Gods’ kingdom of heaven back into existence. Glory be to God!

Psalms 61:8 (60:9 LXX)

So I will sing praise to Your name unto ages of ages,
That I may pay my vows day to day.

Encouraging Words

Why would I consider a verse about singing praises to my God as encouraging words? It is because of the ages to ages part. As a child of the Living God, I believe that I will be blessed to spend eternity with Him. Throughout eternity I will have the privilege of being able to sing praises to Him unto ages of ages, or forever. Glory be to God.

Tobit 4:5-7

My son, remember the Lord our God all your days, and do not desire to sin or to disobey His commandments. Do righteousness all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing. For if you walk in the truth, you will be successful in your works. Do almsgiving from your possessions to all who do righteousness. When you do almsgiving, do not let your eye be envious. Do not turn your face away from any poor man, so the face of God will not be turned away from you.

Personal Challenge

Here we find Tobit giving his son, Tobias, wonderful advice on how to grow into manhood. He is getting ready to send Tobias back to the land of his ancestors so that he can find a wife from amongst his kinspeople. This advice works just as well for all of us today if we desire to live godly and righteous lives. It all begins by remembering our God every.day that we are alive and desiring Him more than the things of the world. With that as our foundation then we should avoid the pathways of the world and walk in the pathways of Gods truths. We follow this by constantly practicing almsgiving and taking care of those who are in more need than ourselves. We do all of this out of the gratefulness of our hearts for what the Lord has done for us and not begrudgingly. This is how we can live a life where we continually see the face of our God. Glory be to Him!

Luke 2:52

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Encouraging Words

There is so much about Jesus that is truly a mystery to mankind. I am so thankful that I belong to a church that is comfortable with these mysteries and that does not believe we need to be able to intellectually on scientifically explain everything away, We accept that there are mysteries that only God has the answer to and that is why He is God and we are not. This is one of those mysteries. Jesus is fully God and He is fully man. If God knows everything, then how could Jesus grow in wisdom? If He is all powerful, then how could He grow in stature? If He is God, then how could He grow in favor with Himself? Here is how my study Bible explains it…

That Jesus grew and became strong in spirit does not imply that He was lacking divine perfection at any time. Rather, it indicates that in emptying Himself and assuming human nature (Philippians 2:7), He freely subjected Himself to human development and expression.

Being fully human, Jesus had to be born, He had to grow up, He had to experience life as all of us do, in order to truly rescue us from death. He made it possible for us to follow in His footsteps and to live sinless lives as well. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 61:1-4 (60:2-5 LXX)

Hear my supplication, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I cried out to You
When my heart was discouraged;
You lifted me high on a rock.
You guided me, for You became my hope,
A tower of strength from the face of the enemy.
I will dwell in Your tabernacle unto the ages;
I will be covered with the shelter of Your wings. (Pause)

Encouraging Words

Our God is everywhere present, all knowing, and all powerful. He is complete love, complete grace, complete mercy, and complete truth. He is the almighty creator of all and yet He humbled Himself to become one of us. He is my God and I am His child, a sheep in His flock, a member of His bride, the Church. So, when I have a need, He is there. When I am lonely, He is there. When I am living my life independently and selfishly, He is still there to catch me when I fall. He is not a God that can only be found in His churches when we go there, for He is everywhere. My God hears my supplications and attends to them. He lifts me up and sets me on solid ground when I cry to Him in the midst of my discouragements. He guides me, He is my hope, He is my tower of strength in the midst of the battles of life. He covers me with His wings of protection whether I recognize it or not. Thank you, my Lord! Glory be to You!

Tobit 1:6

But I alone traveled frequently to Jerusalem for the feast days, as it is written for all of Israel in an everlasting ordinance. I would carry the firstfruits and the tithes of my harvest and the first-shearing.

Personal Challenge

To bit is one of the apocryphal books of Old Testament that is included in the Septuagint but excluded in later texts. Tobit was amongst some of the Jews of his day that were captured and taken away into exile. He and his kinsmen lived far away from Jerusalem. In this verse, we learn that this distance did not prevent Tobit from sojourning back to Jerusalem on a regular basis to celebrate one of his annual religious events This would have been a long, hard and precarious trip. He would have been in much danger from marauders and thieves along the way because he was bringing with him a year’s worth of tithes and offerings. And yet, year after year, be continued to make the journey. It always amazes me that so many people today, many of which who claim to be followers of Christ, find it too difficult to regularly attend worship because it is an inconvenience to get up on Sunday mornings, get the family ready to go and then drive 20 miles to church. Tobit reminds me that nothing should ever come between my Precious Lord and me! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and forgive me for those times that I just want to stay home.

Luke 1:50

And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.

Encouraging Words

In the Old Testament, we are taught that the sins of the father affect at least three generations. We see this play out today as we observe families dealing with alcoholism and other forms of addiction. It also teaches that the righteousness of the father passes onto thousands of generations. Here in the New Testament, Jesus reminds us that our loving and merciful God will pour out His mercy upon those who fear and respect Him and also pour that mercy out upon generation after generation. The consequences of my choices do not just affect me and those around me, but they can affect many generations after me. That is part of the reason that I choose, daily, to love and strive to follow my Lord. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!