Luke 11:23

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

2 Maccabees 6:24-28

“For to pretend such things,” he said, “is not worthy of our time of life, lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to a foreign religion, and because of my pretense for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray through me, while I earn only pollution and defilement in my old age. For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age, and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and bravely for the venerable and holy laws.”

After he said this, he went straight to the rack,

Personal Challenge

The life of the Maccabees was very difficult. They were being persecuted and martyred for their belief in the one, true God. Eleazar had lived a godly life for his Yahweh for 90 years when he was called out for this commitment and brought into persecution. His persecutors tried to make him eat food that his faith practice deemed unholy. Rather than defile himself he was willing to go to the rack and give up his life for his God. When his friends tried to persuade him to pretend that he was eating the defiled food, he made this proclamation that he had not lived his life for his God just to throw it all away in this one moment and lead others, especially the youth astray. In his eyes there was no room for pretending. We can all take this mindset to heart. There are so many of us today proclaiming to be followers of Christ, even entire churches, that pretend to be a part of the world in order to win people to their way of thinking ,just to end up leading so many astray. This is what Eleazar refused to do. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Luke 11:17

But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”

Personal Challenge

Jesus is being accused by the religious leaders that He is actually from the devil and using demonic powers to perform His miracles. He responds with this profound truth that applies even more so today. How could He be doing His miracles as a demon without dividing the house of the devil. It is clear that His miracles are of God and attacks against the world of the devil. The application of this truth to today is how much the house of God, His universal church, has become divided, not only by striking out against each other but sometimes even striking out against God Himself. Jesus prayed that we would be unified in order to proclaim the glory of our God. Isn’t it time that each one of us take up the banner of unification within His body, His bride. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 Maccabees 3:59-60

For it is better for us to die in war than to look upon the evils the Gentiles would bring to us and the sanctuary. But as God’s will is in heaven, so He will do.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy for us to forget that when we chose to follow Christ we also chose to submit to His will and to strive to align our will with his. The world is always tugging at us to leave His will behind and to embrace the ways of the world. One way to be constantly reminded of the rewards of submitting to God’s will is to be reading about the saints that have gone before us. Many paid the ultimate price of submitting to God’s will with martyrdom. They trusted God to the very end and saw His ultimate grace and love in their challenges. Glory be to God!

Luke 11:9-10

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Personal Challenge

All too often, this passage gets misinterpreted and our Lord is characterized as some great vending machine of posterity. These words, ask, seek, and knock, in the original Greek are actually “keep asking”, “keep seeking”, and “keep knocking”. The context also is that we are praying for those things that are good in the eyes of God and in not so much so in the eyes of man. If we are walking in the steps of Christ, being like Him, then we will not be praying, for things that the world sees as good. When we ask, seek, and knock with his mindset…He delivers. 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.”

Encouraging Words

The Maccabees are another series of Apocryphal books that most Western Christians have never had the opportunity to read. Even so, there are many great nuggets of wisdom in these books. Judas Maccabeus had just taken over the leadership of the Maccabeans from his deceased father. Coming out of a victory over a much larger and better equipped army, he makes this claim that the victory belongs to God and not to men. This is a recurring theme in the Old Testament that we can all embrace even today. God is our victor in all the struggles and battles that we face day in and day out. We must always give Him the credit for the successes in our lives. Glory be to God!

Luke 10:41-42

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Encouraging Words

We have here Jesus complimenting Mary for choosing the good part of the event and rebuking Martha for not. So what is this good part that Mary chose? Jesus had just come into the home of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. As always, He sat down and started teaching those present. Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and feast on His words. Martha, however, remained busy doing the work of preparing the house for the quests. Oh, how often we get so wrapped up in the busyness of “doing” God’s work that we neglect the time of sitting at His feet soaking Him in. Even in our prayer life, we can be so busy talking at God that we miss the opportunity to experience Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 Maccabees 2:50-51

Therefore, children, be zealous for the law, and offer your lives for the covenant of our fathers; and remember the deeds our fathers did in their generations, and receive great honor and an everlasting name.

Personal Challenge

As Mattathias was reaching the end of his days and on his deathbed, he offered these words up to his children. We no longer have the law as they did in the days before Christ because He fulfilled the law. We do, however, have Christ and all His teachings. We should live our lives zealous for Him, for His teachings, for His body that He created, His Church. We must be careful to not be zealous for how we want His Church to be. We must be willing to offer our lives for the Church that He has built over the last 2,000 years and for those who have gone before us giving their lives for Him. It is their deeds that have kept the church going and growing. This also means giving respect to our elders that are still alive in our body and learn from them. We do all this to glorify our God.

Luke 10:19-20

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

Personal Challenge

God works in the lives of those who submit to Him and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. As He does this, we should never get wrapped up in rejoicing about how He has used us for His work, but rejoice in the truth that we are His adopted children and that our names are written in His book of life. Our rejoicing is to always be in Him. Glory be to God!