St. Isaac the Syrian

Wisdom of Sirach 7:32-36 LXX

Stretch forth your hand to the poor,
That your blessing may be complete.
Let the kindness of giving be shown
In the presence of all the living,
And do not withhold kindness from the dead.
Do not withdraw yourself from those who weep,
And mourn with those who mourn.
Do not hesitate to visit a sick man,
For by such visits you will be loved.
With all your words, remember the time you will die,
And you will never sin.

Personal Challenge

Another issue with our modern approach to being independent of the church and believing that we have the ability and authority to interpret the Scriptures is that we end up with everyone thinking that they don’t need the church or God. It is the church, the community of believers that we fellowship with that our salvation is worked out. As John Donne wrote so many years ago, “No man is an island.” To be a viable, productive, growing Christian we must be investing in the lives of others. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Wisdom of Sirach 7:29-31 LXX

Fear the Lord with all your soul
And honor His priests.
Love Him who made you
And do not forsake His ministers.
Fear the Lord and honor His priests,
And give them their portion as commanded:
The firstfruits, the trespass offering,
The gift of the shoulder offering,
The sacrifice of sanctification,
And the firstfruits of the holy things.

Personal Challenge

One of the outcomes of the western approach to Christianity where we are given the authority to interpret the scriptures is that we have diminished the role of the priesthood in the church. God ordained an order to the church, both in the Jewish nation and the new covenant church ushered in by our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the people were admonished in the day of Sirach to honor and respect those who had been called and ordained into priestly roles, so too are we to do the same in our church today. It is not up to me to declare this structure as invalid because it is God’s structure and not mine. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Wisdom of Sirach 2:1-6

My son, if you draw near to serve the Lord,
Prepare your soul for temptation.
Set your heart right and be steadfast,
And do not strive anxiously in distress.
Cleave to Him and do not fall away,
That you may be honored at the end of your life.
Accept whatever is brought upon you,
And in exchange for your humiliation, be patient;
Because gold is tested in fire
And acceptable men in the furnace of abasement.
Believe in Him, and He will help you;
Make your ways straight and hope in Him.

Personal Challenge

In the gospels we see that when Jesus began His ministry He was immediately tempted by our enemy. Is it any different for the rest of us? When we get ready to do our Father’s work we too will be tempted and beaten upon. Sometimes we give in to the temptation. That is all the more the time to run back to our Lord, confess our sin, and receive His forgiveness, mercy, and love. He will not beat us down, He will lift us up. He will not say, “Look at you, you worthless sinner.” He will hold us in His arms and show us how much He love us. He wants us to keep getting up when we fall and rely on Him to bring us through to the end. Glory be to God!

1 Maccabees 3:18-19

Then Judas said, “It is easy to hem in many at the hands of a few, and it makes no difference before heaven to save with many or with few. For victory in battle does not come from the size of the army, but from the might of heaven.

Personal Challenge

When I was growing up, I remember that we often sang the song, “Onward Christian Soldiers”. I also remember when it started becoming taboo to sing a song like this in our churches. It wasn’t really socially correct anymore. Let’s face it. We are in a war. This world is still separate from God and under the governance of His enemy. As Christians we are not of this world. We are always counter-cultural. We are always at war with the enemy of God. And as the Maccabees points out, we cannot fight this war on our own using our own means. Only God can win the war and I am either on His side or the enemy’s. There is no neutral ground. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Malachi 1:6a

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then, I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is the reverence due to me?” says the Lord Almighty.

Personal Challenge

It often amazes me when I see professing Christians all up in arms about how upset they are that our nation has taken God out of everything and yet their lives are lived as Malachi calls out here, without honoring and reverencing God. When as I write this I am reminded that I, all too often, do this as well in my own life. We have come to a place in our independence and belief that we can determine what the Scriptures say on our own that we have confined God to some little box that we store in the closet Monday through Saturday and then bring out for an hour or so on Sunday. God should define us, not us define Him.The Scriptures should inform and transform us, not us forming the Scriptures into what we want. I am supposed to live my life as His child and His servant and submit myself to Him, not the other way around. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalm 127:1 (126:1 LXX)

Unless the Lord builds the house,
Those who build it labor in vain;
Unless the Lord guard the city,
Those who guard it stay awake in vain.

Personal Challenge

There has been so much commotion lately about Black Lives Matter, Police Lives Matter, and everything in between. But really, which lives matter? As the psalmist so clearly points out in this verse, unless our Lord is in the middle of all of our endeavors for unity, peace, and the building up of our community,then ALL of our labor is in vain. We have taken God out of our lives. Yes, we have taken Him out of our schools, our government, and our society. In many cases, we have taken Him out of our churches. When we teach that we were not created in the image of God, but evolved from primordial ooze, then what do we end up with? When we choose to take innocent lives of unborn children in the name of choice, then what do we end up with? When we elevate the almighty dollar and the stuff that it can buy above everything and everyone else and make it our God, then what do we end up with? When we destroy marriage and the family by redefining what marriage is, creating and encouraging fatherless homes, and treating marriage as something that can be easily thrown away, then what to we end up with? We end up with the chaos and anarchy that we are seeing rampant today. Now I know that I must admit that I too am guilty of being a part of this situation so I am pointing my finger at me here.

So, what is the answer? We have been reminded in the scriptures and the teachings of our church fathers that we are not of this world but in this world. If all of us who claim to be Christians would stop jumping on all of the social, political, and cultural wagons and started living our lives as Christ expects us to, then our world would change. If I truly give my life to Christ and follow Him, then I am no longer an American. I am no longer a Democrat or a Republican. I am not pro-Black Lives Matters or Police Lives Matters. Pick your thing of this world and I am not a part of it anymore. If I am truly a Christian as Jesus described it, then I must become a person that loves the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, and spirit and my neighbor as myself. In other words. ALL LIVES MATTER, and the matter more than my own. It is no longer about whether or not God has been taken out of the institutions of this world as much as it is about whether or not I have taken God out of my life. Have I made the things of this world more important than Him? If I truly live my life the way that Jesus wants me to, then I will not only begin to see my world change, but I will be a part of that change.

Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Nehemiah 4:7-8

Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall in the sheltered areas, and I positioned the people by families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember our God, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

Personal Challenge

God calls us regularly to step up and do His work for Him. As we heed this call we will be met by resistance because the world does not want God’s work to be accomplished. Sometimes we must be willing to stand up for our God and our fellow brothers and sisters and fight for His kingdom. In all cases, we are once again called to work with God in unity and synergy to build His kingdom. The life of a Christian is not a sedate, non-active life. Glory be to God!

Zechariah 4:6

And he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by mighty power nor by strength, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Personal Challenge

If I desire to see God’s handiwork in my life and the lives around me, then I must work in a synergistic relationship with Him. God does supernatural things in this world. Sometimes they come in the form of miracles. Usually, however, they come in the form of someone just like me, yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing themselves to be used by God for His edification. I can do nothing on my own that amounts to very much. But if I yield to God, trust Him, obey Him, and let Him be the one that gets the glory, then I can be a part of the great works that He does. Glory be to God!