“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun.” -Ecclesiastes 1:9
Well, today is December 31, 2009, and it’s that time of year of again, New Year’s Eve. At this time of year it’s always good to reflect about the entire year and what we did in it.
As for me, it just makes me think that one year ago I was on a retreat with the youth in my diocese, and we were coming back to Pomona in the mid afternoon, then I was going to take a bus back home, which is very far from Pomona, and the busses ended up being full so I became stranded in Pomona. However, back at the church where we arrived there were many activities going on and a midnight liturgy, so glory be to God, I had a place to stay and it was an excellent way to start the New Year. I remember many choir groups went up and presented, and we sung Christian songs, and then the senior priest of the church led us in a heartfelt prayer starting a few minutes before midnight until about midnight, then I saw the date turn on my cell phone from December 31, 2008, to January 1, 2009. I liked seeing the number 2008, it was the year that I graduated from high school, but everything has its time, and we must use time wisely because we can never get it back. So we ended 2008 in prayer and started 2009 in prayer, and it was quite an event at the church, some churches aren’t even as packed on Easter as that church was on New Year’s.
Now comes the time for reviewing what actually went on in 2009. The first six months of 2009 were relatively peaceful, at least to me, and quiet, which is the ideal of the Christian life. Not many things went on there was just a good opportunity to focus on the Lord. But the last six months were horrible and it made me think about many of the problems in the world such as the recession in this country. All the problems we have in the world, especially this country, are because of a lack of virtue, specifically love towards God and towards people. The funniest thing I hear in this world is that people want peace and all the Christian virtues, but without Christ Himself. To want virtue without the One who made it is like wanting a light bulb to light up without electricity; it’s not going to happen. In order to have virtues like peace and love, we must know Jesus, otherwise, don’t expect to get the virtues. The recession in this country came as a result of people not really knowing Jesus and loving God, but by loving money. Greed is what caused this recession, greed on all parts, from many of the buyers and sellers of houses, to the CEO’s of big corporations, and banks lending people on interest only loans which is essentially gambling. These are just a few to name who are behind the problem, there are many, many more. But the fact that greed is one of the seven deadly sins has become fully realized to us in this past year.
What’s going on now reminds me of what Jesus said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:9-12). And this exactly is what’s going on, the world hates us Christians, for no reason, even though it’s because of Christ, and Christians doing what He commanded, that we live the way we live today, in civilization. And the biggest problem in this country is that people fear each other with pathological fear, this is why many “will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” So many people in this country have a weekly cycle of sin, go to work, cuss, gossip, complain, go home do it ten times more than at work because they feared those at work, get off on Friday and drink and do drugs, then on Saturday night party, and so on. Many people in this country don’t naturally love other human beings as they should, there is hatred and malice, the world is becoming a very dark place to live in, even in our own homes, this is what is meant when our Lord Jesus Christ said, “And because lawlessness [sin] will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Essentially, most people in this country don’t love one other, they only think “what will I get out of it,” which is selfishness, before doing any act appearing to be of love. This is why the number of spouses divorcing each other has become so high, the common statistic I have heard is 51%, but I have heard studies that suggest it might have climbed to 66%. Truly the world has become a much darker place and people are still playing in their sins, instead of repenting and turning to God.
But our Lord and Savior tells us right after, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13), and He also tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus Christ is our Hope, and in Him we are complete, without Him we are like a body without a head, we are useless that is, and can’t do anything.
Let us start following Him sincerely starting next year, or I should say tomorrow, and not even tomorrow, let us start following Him today, now, from this moment on. As St. Ignatius said, “It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” If we do what this saying says, many of the troubles that we are in will end, and we will start preserving the creation of God, as is our responsibility, and we will bring many to Christ. Let us not be Christians by name, but by truth, faith, and deed.
Please Lord Jesus Christ, the afflictions of our hearts have been widened, bring us out of all our distresses.
So let us have our Joy and Peace restored to us in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Joy and Peace. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And glory be to our God and Savior both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas of Myra)
“And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” -Acts 20:35
The name Santa Claus is French for Saint (Santa) Nicholas (Claus actually being a modification of the last six letters of his name). The name Nicholas itself is Greek and it means “The Victory of the People.”
St. Nicholas of Myra was born in the latter half of the 3rd Century A.D. in Patara, Lycia (in what is today Turkey) to Theophanes and Nona, wealthy parents. He was the result of prayers by his parents to have a child because they were formerly barren. From his youth he had been educated in the Scriptures.
As time went on he entered a monastery and became a monk, and he had a vision that he would be ordained a bishop. In this vision he saw the Lord Jesus appear holding the Gospel adorned with jewels and St. Mary with the bishop’s vestments; this is one of the reasons that in his icon Jesus and Mary are portrayed this way. He became the bishop of the city of Myra.
St. Nicholas is known for his gift of giving, and one story of such giving is recorded among us. There was a rich man in the city of Myra who had three daughters and lost all his wealth. He thought to himself that there wasn’t going to be any way to get his daughters married so he was set on selling them as prostitutes to make money. God revealed to St. Nicholas what the man was thinking so he went by the window of the man’s house at night and threw a sack filled with gold and the man was able to give his first daughter in marriage. Then Nicholas repeated this again and the second daughter also got married. The man wanted to know who was doing these acts of kindness and charity for them so he was watching by the window and when the sack came in he went out immediately and found Nicholas. He thanked him for doing this because he brought the family out of poverty and prevented a life of sin from them. Nicholas told the man to give thanks to God, not to him.
St. Nicholas also saved three people from being unjustly executed. These three were unjustly condemned because the governor had been bribed. Nicholas went up courageously as they were about to be executed and held the sword from the executioners hand, he then rebuked the governor for dealing with them in that manner and the governor repented.
He was also present at the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicea in 325 A.D. He was arguing with Arius about the Lord Jesus Christ and His divinity and he wasn’t able to stop Arius in his words so he struck him in the face. Now when the bishops heard about this they defrocked (took off his bishop’s vestments and he no longer remained a bishop) him because this act is unacceptable for Christians even if the person is a heretic because the Lord taught us otherwise, and banned him from the rest of the Council of Nicea. Yet later that night, as they were asleep, many of the bishops saw the Lord holding a Gospel and St. Mary holding Nicholas bishop’s vestments and the Lord put it on Nicholas. This is the second reason Jesus and Mary are portrayed specifically over his right and left shoulders in the icon. After this the bishops returned Nicholas to the rank of Bishop and his vestments and knew that what Nicholas had done was not an act of wrath but of zeal for the Lord.
St. Nicholas also worked wonders among the people and he lived to be 80 years old.
Let us remember the real Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) during this month and imitate his virtues. Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
The name Santa Claus is French for Saint (Santa) Nicholas (Claus actually being a modification of the last six letters of his name). The name Nicholas itself is Greek and it means “The Victory of the People.”
St. Nicholas of Myra was born in the latter half of the 3rd Century A.D. in Patara, Lycia (in what is today Turkey) to Theophanes and Nona, wealthy parents. He was the result of prayers by his parents to have a child because they were formerly barren. From his youth he had been educated in the Scriptures.
As time went on he entered a monastery and became a monk, and he had a vision that he would be ordained a bishop. In this vision he saw the Lord Jesus appear holding the Gospel adorned with jewels and St. Mary with the bishop’s vestments; this is one of the reasons that in his icon Jesus and Mary are portrayed this way. He became the bishop of the city of Myra.
St. Nicholas is known for his gift of giving, and one story of such giving is recorded among us. There was a rich man in the city of Myra who had three daughters and lost all his wealth. He thought to himself that there wasn’t going to be any way to get his daughters married so he was set on selling them as prostitutes to make money. God revealed to St. Nicholas what the man was thinking so he went by the window of the man’s house at night and threw a sack filled with gold and the man was able to give his first daughter in marriage. Then Nicholas repeated this again and the second daughter also got married. The man wanted to know who was doing these acts of kindness and charity for them so he was watching by the window and when the sack came in he went out immediately and found Nicholas. He thanked him for doing this because he brought the family out of poverty and prevented a life of sin from them. Nicholas told the man to give thanks to God, not to him.
St. Nicholas also saved three people from being unjustly executed. These three were unjustly condemned because the governor had been bribed. Nicholas went up courageously as they were about to be executed and held the sword from the executioners hand, he then rebuked the governor for dealing with them in that manner and the governor repented.
He was also present at the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicea in 325 A.D. He was arguing with Arius about the Lord Jesus Christ and His divinity and he wasn’t able to stop Arius in his words so he struck him in the face. Now when the bishops heard about this they defrocked (took off his bishop’s vestments and he no longer remained a bishop) him because this act is unacceptable for Christians even if the person is a heretic because the Lord taught us otherwise, and banned him from the rest of the Council of Nicea. Yet later that night, as they were asleep, many of the bishops saw the Lord holding a Gospel and St. Mary holding Nicholas bishop’s vestments and the Lord put it on Nicholas. This is the second reason Jesus and Mary are portrayed specifically over his right and left shoulders in the icon. After this the bishops returned Nicholas to the rank of Bishop and his vestments and knew that what Nicholas had done was not an act of wrath but of zeal for the Lord.
St. Nicholas also worked wonders among the people and he lived to be 80 years old.
Let us remember the real Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) during this month and imitate his virtues. Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Being Social
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.” -John 13:34
Today it is so easy to be in contact with people than ever before. We can literally pick up the phone or go to the computer and talk to people who might be halfway across the world.
Being social is one of the greatest blessings, but can also be one of the greatest curses.
Sociality is a gift from God. God expressly saw that all His Creation was good except for one thing, that the human being was alone: “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” (Genesis 2:18). So God made Eve for Adam, another human being, for him, comparable to him. And Adam responded by saying, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). This is the holiest relationship; the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is the first human relationship, instituted by God and from it all other relationships come. We wouldn’t have brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, and all other relationships if it wasn’t for the Sacrament of Matrimony; the union of one man and one woman in Christ.
The first blessing of being social is that we grow strong in our faith. God did not give the revelation of Himself to one person at one time, but always to more than one. The Church was not born with only one person in it, but more than 120 believers (without the others who had believed in Jesus through His ministry) were gathered on the Day of Pentecost when the Promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. And through the Church we receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
When Jesus was asked as to what the greatest commandment was in the Old Testament, “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:29-31) and “‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:40). It is interesting that Jesus says that loving one’s neighbor is like loving God. How can this be? God is infinite by nature and humans aren’t. How can they be compared? This is because unless one loves his neighbor (others) he cannot love God, because we can know that we love God only when we keep His commandments. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3, 5). God created us, humans, and His plan for how we should deal with each other is in love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). So unless we love one another as Jesus commanded us, we have no hope of ever being with God. These are some of the blessings of being social.
Now some of the curses of being social are hatred, gossip, malice, arrogance, envy and so on. People who have these problems exist even in the Church itself. And the curses are magnified when we deal with these people. These above characteristics have no part in love, and therefore cut themselves away from God, and those who live in these also cut themselves away from God.
It is easy to see gossip in any church, but where in gossip is it love to make fun of people and talk bad about them behind their backs for that sake only. Why do you talk about them badly? Don’t you also have the same problems? And if not the same, you have other problems that they can talk about and you won’t be happy when you find out that they are?
Malice is also common, which is tightly interconnected with hatred. When people bother you or hurt your feelings because they want to make themselves feel good.
And arrogance when we start to lose sight of our goal which is God Himself and our goal is now to do more than other people and we are puffed up and we think we are better than other people because we read the Bible more often than they do, or fast longer hours, or even fast at all, and do other spiritual activities. These activities then lose all their purpose and meaning because we have separated them from God and have now made them a means for our own gain. St. Augustine said, “Pride extinguishes love; consequently humility strengthens love; love extinguishes offenses.”
These above mentioned qualities are all very interconnected and result either from hatred or selfishness. Either way they are the result of putting aside the love of God from our hearts and putting the love of our self there instead.
Let us pray that God would grant us the greatest gift, love, and that we would live in it. And glory be to God both now and ever. Amen.
Today it is so easy to be in contact with people than ever before. We can literally pick up the phone or go to the computer and talk to people who might be halfway across the world.
Being social is one of the greatest blessings, but can also be one of the greatest curses.
Sociality is a gift from God. God expressly saw that all His Creation was good except for one thing, that the human being was alone: “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” (Genesis 2:18). So God made Eve for Adam, another human being, for him, comparable to him. And Adam responded by saying, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). This is the holiest relationship; the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is the first human relationship, instituted by God and from it all other relationships come. We wouldn’t have brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, and all other relationships if it wasn’t for the Sacrament of Matrimony; the union of one man and one woman in Christ.
The first blessing of being social is that we grow strong in our faith. God did not give the revelation of Himself to one person at one time, but always to more than one. The Church was not born with only one person in it, but more than 120 believers (without the others who had believed in Jesus through His ministry) were gathered on the Day of Pentecost when the Promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. And through the Church we receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
When Jesus was asked as to what the greatest commandment was in the Old Testament, “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:29-31) and “‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:40). It is interesting that Jesus says that loving one’s neighbor is like loving God. How can this be? God is infinite by nature and humans aren’t. How can they be compared? This is because unless one loves his neighbor (others) he cannot love God, because we can know that we love God only when we keep His commandments. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3, 5). God created us, humans, and His plan for how we should deal with each other is in love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). So unless we love one another as Jesus commanded us, we have no hope of ever being with God. These are some of the blessings of being social.
Now some of the curses of being social are hatred, gossip, malice, arrogance, envy and so on. People who have these problems exist even in the Church itself. And the curses are magnified when we deal with these people. These above characteristics have no part in love, and therefore cut themselves away from God, and those who live in these also cut themselves away from God.
It is easy to see gossip in any church, but where in gossip is it love to make fun of people and talk bad about them behind their backs for that sake only. Why do you talk about them badly? Don’t you also have the same problems? And if not the same, you have other problems that they can talk about and you won’t be happy when you find out that they are?
Malice is also common, which is tightly interconnected with hatred. When people bother you or hurt your feelings because they want to make themselves feel good.
And arrogance when we start to lose sight of our goal which is God Himself and our goal is now to do more than other people and we are puffed up and we think we are better than other people because we read the Bible more often than they do, or fast longer hours, or even fast at all, and do other spiritual activities. These activities then lose all their purpose and meaning because we have separated them from God and have now made them a means for our own gain. St. Augustine said, “Pride extinguishes love; consequently humility strengthens love; love extinguishes offenses.”
These above mentioned qualities are all very interconnected and result either from hatred or selfishness. Either way they are the result of putting aside the love of God from our hearts and putting the love of our self there instead.
Let us pray that God would grant us the greatest gift, love, and that we would live in it. And glory be to God both now and ever. Amen.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” -1 Chronicles 16:34
Today our country celebrates the holiday of Thanksgiving. Its origins lie in the early Christian settlers coming to this continent hundreds of years ago. We portrayed it every year in elementary school by dressing up as Pilgrims and Indians so that the story would always be fixed in our heads. We should take this holiday as an opportunity for thanking God for all that He has done.
In Church, for any liturgical gathering, we always begin with the Thanksgiving Prayer which starts off with, “Let us give thanks to the Beneficent and Merciful God.” And why is it that we give thanks to the Lord, because He has “covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us unto Him, spared us, supported us, and brought us to this hour.” But we are supposed to also thank Him, “for every condition, concerning every condition, and in every condition” for these very same reasons and we must always remember that He gave us our life, both physical and spiritual, the greatest gift. So why is it that because of one or two things we shouldn’t thank him for the rest of the innumerable things he has done for us. We should thank Him for everything and every condition.
Thanksgiving glorifies God and causes us to come closer to Him. In this sense it is also a witness to God, because when people see that we actually live by what we preach it receives much more magnification and realization than just preaching principles. Thanksgiving should therefore also be an act of love. It should be a very high expression of that love, showing God that we appreciate what He is doing and that we are humbled by these experiences. As it is written that if it, “have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Love is “that which is perfect” (1 Corinthians 13:10), and we must never forget that.
The Greek word for thanksgiving as used in the Bible is “eucharistos.” This then points us back to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is called so because before Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples as His Body and gave them the cup of wine as His Blood giving the New Covenant, it says He gave thanks. Jesus giving Himself for us on the Cross and the Sacrament is our ultimate Thanksgiving that He has been merciful to us in His goodness as to give us eternal life and fellowship with Him, which is why in the Church’s hymns we say the verse, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34) so often.
So let us be like St. Paul and say with such conviction, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Happy Thanksgiving and Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Today our country celebrates the holiday of Thanksgiving. Its origins lie in the early Christian settlers coming to this continent hundreds of years ago. We portrayed it every year in elementary school by dressing up as Pilgrims and Indians so that the story would always be fixed in our heads. We should take this holiday as an opportunity for thanking God for all that He has done.
In Church, for any liturgical gathering, we always begin with the Thanksgiving Prayer which starts off with, “Let us give thanks to the Beneficent and Merciful God.” And why is it that we give thanks to the Lord, because He has “covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us unto Him, spared us, supported us, and brought us to this hour.” But we are supposed to also thank Him, “for every condition, concerning every condition, and in every condition” for these very same reasons and we must always remember that He gave us our life, both physical and spiritual, the greatest gift. So why is it that because of one or two things we shouldn’t thank him for the rest of the innumerable things he has done for us. We should thank Him for everything and every condition.
Thanksgiving glorifies God and causes us to come closer to Him. In this sense it is also a witness to God, because when people see that we actually live by what we preach it receives much more magnification and realization than just preaching principles. Thanksgiving should therefore also be an act of love. It should be a very high expression of that love, showing God that we appreciate what He is doing and that we are humbled by these experiences. As it is written that if it, “have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Love is “that which is perfect” (1 Corinthians 13:10), and we must never forget that.
The Greek word for thanksgiving as used in the Bible is “eucharistos.” This then points us back to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is called so because before Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples as His Body and gave them the cup of wine as His Blood giving the New Covenant, it says He gave thanks. Jesus giving Himself for us on the Cross and the Sacrament is our ultimate Thanksgiving that He has been merciful to us in His goodness as to give us eternal life and fellowship with Him, which is why in the Church’s hymns we say the verse, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34) so often.
So let us be like St. Paul and say with such conviction, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Happy Thanksgiving and Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
St. Ignatius of Antioch
“Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” -Mark 9:36-37
St. Ignatius of Antioch is one of the earliest Church Fathers that we have, having been born around 30 A.D. and martyred 107 A.D. There is a tradition that says that when Jesus was talking about the toddlers and they were coming to him, that St. Ignatius was one of them.
He was ordained as Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter the Apostle and he was very zealous for the Lord. This led him to be called Theophorus (God-Bearer).
He was arrested by the Romans because of his faith and was led to Rome to be martyred. On his way to Rome he stopped in Smyrna and strengthened the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles, several of them from Smyrna and a couple from Troas. These sevens letters are the letters to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna. These letters were treasured as soon as they were written because St. Polycarp himself started collecting them right after they were written. These letters are still available in their original Greek today and have been translated into English.
St. Ignatius wanted to be martyred to the degree that he wrote to the Roman Christians in advance not to do anything to prevent it. He finally arrived in Rome after passing through Asia Minor and met with the Christians there. He was led into the arena, probably the Colosseum, and thrown to the lions who ripped him up and made his martyrdom complete. After he was martyred, he appeared to many Roman Christians to comfort them.
He is one of the Apostolic Fathers, which are the earliest group of Christians writing after the New Testament. His seven letters are included and are very deep for spiritual instruction. I have included a few of his sayings below for your benefit.
“Love is the way leading up to God.” -Epistle to the Ephesians 9
“It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 4
“Study, therefore, to be established in the precepts of the Lord and the apostles that so all things, whatsoever you do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son and the Father, and in the Spirit.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 13
“Do not be deceived, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If anyone walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion.” -Epistle to the Philadelphians 3
“I endure everything because He Himself, who is the perfect Human, strengthens me.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 4
“Let not a high place puff anyone up: for that which is worth all is faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6
“Flee from divisions as the beginning of evils.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 8
“Stand firm, as does an anvil which is beaten. It is the part of a noble athlete to be wounded, and yet to conquer.” –Epistle to Polycarp 3
St. Ignatius of Antioch is one of the earliest Church Fathers that we have, having been born around 30 A.D. and martyred 107 A.D. There is a tradition that says that when Jesus was talking about the toddlers and they were coming to him, that St. Ignatius was one of them.
He was ordained as Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter the Apostle and he was very zealous for the Lord. This led him to be called Theophorus (God-Bearer).
He was arrested by the Romans because of his faith and was led to Rome to be martyred. On his way to Rome he stopped in Smyrna and strengthened the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles, several of them from Smyrna and a couple from Troas. These sevens letters are the letters to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna. These letters were treasured as soon as they were written because St. Polycarp himself started collecting them right after they were written. These letters are still available in their original Greek today and have been translated into English.
St. Ignatius wanted to be martyred to the degree that he wrote to the Roman Christians in advance not to do anything to prevent it. He finally arrived in Rome after passing through Asia Minor and met with the Christians there. He was led into the arena, probably the Colosseum, and thrown to the lions who ripped him up and made his martyrdom complete. After he was martyred, he appeared to many Roman Christians to comfort them.
He is one of the Apostolic Fathers, which are the earliest group of Christians writing after the New Testament. His seven letters are included and are very deep for spiritual instruction. I have included a few of his sayings below for your benefit.
“Love is the way leading up to God.” -Epistle to the Ephesians 9
“It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 4
“Study, therefore, to be established in the precepts of the Lord and the apostles that so all things, whatsoever you do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son and the Father, and in the Spirit.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 13
“Do not be deceived, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If anyone walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion.” -Epistle to the Philadelphians 3
“I endure everything because He Himself, who is the perfect Human, strengthens me.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 4
“Let not a high place puff anyone up: for that which is worth all is faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6
“Flee from divisions as the beginning of evils.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 8
“Stand firm, as does an anvil which is beaten. It is the part of a noble athlete to be wounded, and yet to conquer.” –Epistle to Polycarp 3
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Holy Youth: St. Joseph the Righteous
“You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” -Genesis 50:20
St. Joseph the Righteous, as he is called in the Orthodox Church, is one of the earliest examples of Holy Youth, if not the earliest mentioned in the Bible.
Joseph is a great example of how God can use youth to do extraordinary things. We see this in that he was granted the gift of prophecy at the age of 17 when he had the dreams of the 11 sheaves bowing down to his, and also the dream of the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowing down to him. Also he had the gift of interpreting dreams, which he used when he interpreted the dreams of the butler, the baker, and Pharaoh. But we are focusing on his virtues.
The first of Joseph’s virtues that we see is his obedience, specifically his obedience to his father. “And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come I will send you to them.’ So he said to him, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said to him, ‘Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.’ So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem” (Genesis 37:13-14). This obedience was very strong because what Jacob asked Joseph to do was not easy; it required a lot of walking, miles, and walking alone too. But Joseph answered, “Here I am.”
We also see that God was with him. In Genesis 39, when Joseph began his service to Potiphar, to whom he was sold, it says that “The Lord was with Joseph” or “with him,” four times. This brings us to a very important subject in Christianity which is synergy. Synergy is derived from a Greek word which means “working with.” Synergy in Christianity means working with God. This is as simple as it gets, without God we can do nothing! Jesus confirmed this when he told His disciples the night before He was crucified, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:4-5). In order to get to this level where God will work with us we must devote as much time as we can to prayer. Prayer that thanks and glorifies God, deep prayer in which God starts to reveal Himself to us and we see His works in the Creation more and more clearly, where we contemplate the wonderful things He has done, from the Creation itself, to virtue, to all the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the Incarnation to the Ascension.
Joseph had a very strong relationship with God and this is what caused the Lord to be with him. We see the words prosper or success come when it says “the Lord was with Joseph.” This comes before even the first psalm was written which says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly… but his will is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by streams of water that produces its fruit in its season, and his leaf shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1). This strong relationship Joseph had with God caused God to work with him (synergy), and this is what led to the rest of his virtues. Pope Shenouda III talks about synergy in his book Holy Zeal, talking about partnership with God, “Another example is that of an electric light and an electric current. You can find electric lights which are very beautiful, very powerful and of quite an exquisite type, which emit a light that gives people great joy to see. But in actual fact, such lights can only give light as long as they are connected to an electric current. If they are cut off from the electricity supply then they cease to work; their usefulness, beauty and attractive shape are worth nothing. So too will all your zeal be in vain if you are far away from God, who is the source of power.”
Joseph was also trustworthy. We see that Potiphar made Joseph the overseer of his house and everything in it because he “saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority” (Genesis 39:3-4). Even the unbeliever saw God working in Joseph, and because of this he exalted him to the position of overseer. We also see that “the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake” (Genesis 39:5). Synergy causes us to be filled with God’s Spirit as Christians and through this God’s power rests on everything we are entrusted with. Joseph’s trustworthiness also caused the keeper of the prison to have Joseph oversee the prison, and not just any prison, the prison of Pharaoh’s prisoners, “But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper” (Genesis 39:21-23).
This trustworthiness leads to faith in a person, and this faith will lead those who deal with us to believe in God because they will see us reflecting God who is the Most Trustworthy. It even led Pharaoh to commit all Egypt into Joseph’s hands and he confessed Joseph’s God saying, “And Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?’ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.’ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, ‘Bow the knee!’ So he set him over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:38-43).
Joseph was also humble. When the butler and the baker asked Joseph if he was able to interpret their dreams he answered, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8) And also when Pharaoh told Joseph that he had heard that he interpreted dreams, Joseph answered, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). We can learn from this because today, unfortunately, we tend to exalt ourselves instead of giving God the glory. We say, “I did this, I did that,” and such. An interesting thing, the word for “I” in Greek is “Ego.” Humility is not only making nothing of ourselves, but more than that it is giving God the credit and glory. Many times if we parade a virtue or talent we have, God might take it away to teach us a lesson, then we will know what we had after it is gone, but our eyes will be on God because then we will know that he was the one giving that talent or virtue to us.
Among other things Joseph was wise (40:38-39), which Pharaoh confessed was because God was with him. But the most important virtue which Joseph had was his forgiveness. Even after all the things that his brothers did to him; betraying him and selling him to the Ishmaelites and causing him to bondage for more than 13 years when he was a slave to Potiphar and later a prisoner, up until the time Pharaoh appointed him over Egypt, he forgave them. He said to them, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
Joseph is a great example of all the things we should be, even youth, because he kept his eyes on God all the time, which is why even after his brothers betrayed and sold him, he said what God did, which by far was greater, “to save many people alive.” And as it says in the Epistle to the Romans, “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
So we should pray to God and ask him to be examples to others that our youth isn’t a stumbling block, but a great chance to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, like St. Paul exhorts St. Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
St. Joseph the Righteous, as he is called in the Orthodox Church, is one of the earliest examples of Holy Youth, if not the earliest mentioned in the Bible.
Joseph is a great example of how God can use youth to do extraordinary things. We see this in that he was granted the gift of prophecy at the age of 17 when he had the dreams of the 11 sheaves bowing down to his, and also the dream of the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowing down to him. Also he had the gift of interpreting dreams, which he used when he interpreted the dreams of the butler, the baker, and Pharaoh. But we are focusing on his virtues.
The first of Joseph’s virtues that we see is his obedience, specifically his obedience to his father. “And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come I will send you to them.’ So he said to him, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said to him, ‘Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.’ So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem” (Genesis 37:13-14). This obedience was very strong because what Jacob asked Joseph to do was not easy; it required a lot of walking, miles, and walking alone too. But Joseph answered, “Here I am.”
We also see that God was with him. In Genesis 39, when Joseph began his service to Potiphar, to whom he was sold, it says that “The Lord was with Joseph” or “with him,” four times. This brings us to a very important subject in Christianity which is synergy. Synergy is derived from a Greek word which means “working with.” Synergy in Christianity means working with God. This is as simple as it gets, without God we can do nothing! Jesus confirmed this when he told His disciples the night before He was crucified, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:4-5). In order to get to this level where God will work with us we must devote as much time as we can to prayer. Prayer that thanks and glorifies God, deep prayer in which God starts to reveal Himself to us and we see His works in the Creation more and more clearly, where we contemplate the wonderful things He has done, from the Creation itself, to virtue, to all the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the Incarnation to the Ascension.
Joseph had a very strong relationship with God and this is what caused the Lord to be with him. We see the words prosper or success come when it says “the Lord was with Joseph.” This comes before even the first psalm was written which says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly… but his will is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by streams of water that produces its fruit in its season, and his leaf shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1). This strong relationship Joseph had with God caused God to work with him (synergy), and this is what led to the rest of his virtues. Pope Shenouda III talks about synergy in his book Holy Zeal, talking about partnership with God, “Another example is that of an electric light and an electric current. You can find electric lights which are very beautiful, very powerful and of quite an exquisite type, which emit a light that gives people great joy to see. But in actual fact, such lights can only give light as long as they are connected to an electric current. If they are cut off from the electricity supply then they cease to work; their usefulness, beauty and attractive shape are worth nothing. So too will all your zeal be in vain if you are far away from God, who is the source of power.”
Joseph was also trustworthy. We see that Potiphar made Joseph the overseer of his house and everything in it because he “saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority” (Genesis 39:3-4). Even the unbeliever saw God working in Joseph, and because of this he exalted him to the position of overseer. We also see that “the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake” (Genesis 39:5). Synergy causes us to be filled with God’s Spirit as Christians and through this God’s power rests on everything we are entrusted with. Joseph’s trustworthiness also caused the keeper of the prison to have Joseph oversee the prison, and not just any prison, the prison of Pharaoh’s prisoners, “But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper” (Genesis 39:21-23).
This trustworthiness leads to faith in a person, and this faith will lead those who deal with us to believe in God because they will see us reflecting God who is the Most Trustworthy. It even led Pharaoh to commit all Egypt into Joseph’s hands and he confessed Joseph’s God saying, “And Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?’ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.’ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, ‘Bow the knee!’ So he set him over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:38-43).
Joseph was also humble. When the butler and the baker asked Joseph if he was able to interpret their dreams he answered, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8) And also when Pharaoh told Joseph that he had heard that he interpreted dreams, Joseph answered, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). We can learn from this because today, unfortunately, we tend to exalt ourselves instead of giving God the glory. We say, “I did this, I did that,” and such. An interesting thing, the word for “I” in Greek is “Ego.” Humility is not only making nothing of ourselves, but more than that it is giving God the credit and glory. Many times if we parade a virtue or talent we have, God might take it away to teach us a lesson, then we will know what we had after it is gone, but our eyes will be on God because then we will know that he was the one giving that talent or virtue to us.
Among other things Joseph was wise (40:38-39), which Pharaoh confessed was because God was with him. But the most important virtue which Joseph had was his forgiveness. Even after all the things that his brothers did to him; betraying him and selling him to the Ishmaelites and causing him to bondage for more than 13 years when he was a slave to Potiphar and later a prisoner, up until the time Pharaoh appointed him over Egypt, he forgave them. He said to them, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
Joseph is a great example of all the things we should be, even youth, because he kept his eyes on God all the time, which is why even after his brothers betrayed and sold him, he said what God did, which by far was greater, “to save many people alive.” And as it says in the Epistle to the Romans, “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
So we should pray to God and ask him to be examples to others that our youth isn’t a stumbling block, but a great chance to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, like St. Paul exhorts St. Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Holy Youth: Saint John the Baptist
St. John the Baptist is a great example for us youth on how to lead our lives in virtue. Jesus bears witness of John saying, “For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Luke 7:28).
John the Baptist is the Forerunner of Jesus Christ as it says in the Book of Malachi the Prophet, “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1). His birth happened by a miracle, like that of Samuel the Prophet. It was announced to his father Zacharias by Gabriel the Archangel while he was in the Temple serving at the altar of incense. Gabriel told Zacharias about John saying, “He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:15-17). And afterward in the same chapter we see how he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb when he leaped in her womb for joy. And his mother was filled with the Holy Spirit afterwards.
From here we begin to see where his virtue lies, and that is in bearing witness to Christ. This great Saint’s focus is solely upon the Savior Himself. From the beginning, even while the two were in the womb, John the Baptist bore witness of Christ. When this Saint began his public ministry, he was no older than 30 years old, maybe even younger than that, and he was able to attract thousands to repentance. By this he was doing what was prophesied in the Book of Malachi which says, “and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6) and through this, by causing the hearts of the people to be virtuous they could be prepared to meet the Lord as Gabriel also prophesied, “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
The next thing we see in John is that he recognized Christ when he saw Him. Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan not because He needed repentance because He alone is without sin, but through His Baptism he set the way for our baptism by sanctifying the waters of Baptism and giving us the example for life. When He came to John, John immediately recognized Him and “tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him” (Matthew 3:14-15). Today it is so hard for us to hear the voice of God because of all the worries of the world and all the things we desire from it, but John who had spent all his life in the deserts until he was manifested to Israel, recognized Christ because he had spent a life of prayer in the deserts. Let us pray for this virtue of recognizing the Lord when He comes to us.
Out of this passage we also see that St. John the Baptist had the virtues of obedience and humility. Because he recognized Jesus when He came to Him, and knew that He was sinless and didn’t need baptism, He tried to prevent Him knowing that he should be baptized by Jesus, not knowing exactly what it was that Jesus was trying to fulfill, but knowing that this One who was standing in front of him was the Son of God and Lord of all, he baptized Him himself. And because of this virtue, it was granted to Him to witness the Theophany (Epiphany); when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and remained upon Him, and God the Father spoke saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). If this one act of obedience alone granted John the Baptist to see this wonderful event, what else will we see and experience if we obey our Fathers of Confession when they advise about something in the faith?
After he fulfilled this first part of his ministry which he knew and applied to himself, citing the prophecy of Isaiah, “He said: ‘I am “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD”’” (John 1:23), he began to lead people to Christ Himself, beginning with his two disciples, Andrew and John. After they heard John say “‘Behold the Lamb of God!’… they followed Jesus” (John 1:36-37). We could learn a lot from his virtue of evangelism. How many times are we afraid to share our faith with the people around us because we don’t know what they will do to us or how their reactions will be? But this wasn’t the end of his evangelism, there was more, and we see his humility come out even further afterward. John’s disciples came to him after a dispute began to arise, and they were worried that Jesus was baptizing and bringing all people to Himself. John answered them saying, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:27-30).
He also taught us repentance without which we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. He taught those who were just hearers to become doers of the word. This even got to Herod as it is written, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly” (Mark 6:20). But hearing gladly is not enough as Jesus says, “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble” (Mark 4:16-17). And that is exactly what happened to Herod, he was afraid of his brother’s wife, whom he had taken unlawfully, she was like the thorns that the third group of seeds sown fell into, and he had put himself into the trouble by promising her daughter anything she wanted up to half the kingdom, and because of this fear of not keeping his word, he killed John the Baptist.
This brings us to the last of his virtues, the great love of God that he had. He became a martyr because he spoke the truth and those who heard it, namely Herod’s wife, whom he had taken unlawfully, didn’t like that he rebuked her for the unlawful marriage and taught repentance, so she had him imprisoned, then eventually killed through Herod. Martyrdom is the greatest expression of love for God, as Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). And Jesus who is God calls us friends (John 15:14-15).
Let us learn from the example of this great Saint, of whom Jesus bears witness and says, “He was the burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35). Let us emulate his focus on Jesus Christ. May his prayers be with us all and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
John the Baptist is the Forerunner of Jesus Christ as it says in the Book of Malachi the Prophet, “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1). His birth happened by a miracle, like that of Samuel the Prophet. It was announced to his father Zacharias by Gabriel the Archangel while he was in the Temple serving at the altar of incense. Gabriel told Zacharias about John saying, “He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:15-17). And afterward in the same chapter we see how he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb when he leaped in her womb for joy. And his mother was filled with the Holy Spirit afterwards.
From here we begin to see where his virtue lies, and that is in bearing witness to Christ. This great Saint’s focus is solely upon the Savior Himself. From the beginning, even while the two were in the womb, John the Baptist bore witness of Christ. When this Saint began his public ministry, he was no older than 30 years old, maybe even younger than that, and he was able to attract thousands to repentance. By this he was doing what was prophesied in the Book of Malachi which says, “and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6) and through this, by causing the hearts of the people to be virtuous they could be prepared to meet the Lord as Gabriel also prophesied, “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
The next thing we see in John is that he recognized Christ when he saw Him. Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan not because He needed repentance because He alone is without sin, but through His Baptism he set the way for our baptism by sanctifying the waters of Baptism and giving us the example for life. When He came to John, John immediately recognized Him and “tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him” (Matthew 3:14-15). Today it is so hard for us to hear the voice of God because of all the worries of the world and all the things we desire from it, but John who had spent all his life in the deserts until he was manifested to Israel, recognized Christ because he had spent a life of prayer in the deserts. Let us pray for this virtue of recognizing the Lord when He comes to us.
Out of this passage we also see that St. John the Baptist had the virtues of obedience and humility. Because he recognized Jesus when He came to Him, and knew that He was sinless and didn’t need baptism, He tried to prevent Him knowing that he should be baptized by Jesus, not knowing exactly what it was that Jesus was trying to fulfill, but knowing that this One who was standing in front of him was the Son of God and Lord of all, he baptized Him himself. And because of this virtue, it was granted to Him to witness the Theophany (Epiphany); when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and remained upon Him, and God the Father spoke saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). If this one act of obedience alone granted John the Baptist to see this wonderful event, what else will we see and experience if we obey our Fathers of Confession when they advise about something in the faith?
After he fulfilled this first part of his ministry which he knew and applied to himself, citing the prophecy of Isaiah, “He said: ‘I am “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD”’” (John 1:23), he began to lead people to Christ Himself, beginning with his two disciples, Andrew and John. After they heard John say “‘Behold the Lamb of God!’… they followed Jesus” (John 1:36-37). We could learn a lot from his virtue of evangelism. How many times are we afraid to share our faith with the people around us because we don’t know what they will do to us or how their reactions will be? But this wasn’t the end of his evangelism, there was more, and we see his humility come out even further afterward. John’s disciples came to him after a dispute began to arise, and they were worried that Jesus was baptizing and bringing all people to Himself. John answered them saying, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:27-30).
He also taught us repentance without which we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. He taught those who were just hearers to become doers of the word. This even got to Herod as it is written, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly” (Mark 6:20). But hearing gladly is not enough as Jesus says, “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble” (Mark 4:16-17). And that is exactly what happened to Herod, he was afraid of his brother’s wife, whom he had taken unlawfully, she was like the thorns that the third group of seeds sown fell into, and he had put himself into the trouble by promising her daughter anything she wanted up to half the kingdom, and because of this fear of not keeping his word, he killed John the Baptist.
This brings us to the last of his virtues, the great love of God that he had. He became a martyr because he spoke the truth and those who heard it, namely Herod’s wife, whom he had taken unlawfully, didn’t like that he rebuked her for the unlawful marriage and taught repentance, so she had him imprisoned, then eventually killed through Herod. Martyrdom is the greatest expression of love for God, as Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). And Jesus who is God calls us friends (John 15:14-15).
Let us learn from the example of this great Saint, of whom Jesus bears witness and says, “He was the burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35). Let us emulate his focus on Jesus Christ. May his prayers be with us all and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Holy Youth: Saint Mary
St. Mary is the greatest saint, because through her God the Son became incarnate. No one else ever bore God the Son in the body. She is the one whom Jesus Christ took His humanity from.
St. Mary is an example to us because of her many virtues. She is not mentioned a lot in the Bible, but through what is mentioned about her we can perceive these many virtues.
The first virtue that we see in her is silence; she didn’t talk a lot. While so many youth in this generation talk so idly, and gossip, and hurt each other’s feelings, and waste time, St. Mary did not. After the greeting by Gabriel the Archangel, she “considered what manner of greeting this was,” (Luke 1:29) not argued. After the shepherds came and worshiped Jesus Christ shortly after His birth, she also remained silent and “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). And when Simeon the Elder took up Jesus in his arms and prophesied about Him, she and Joseph “marveled at those things which were spoken of Him” (Luke 2:33). Also after they had lost Jesus from their company when He was 12 years old, she did not yell at Him and scold Him, but after hearing what He said to them, she “kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
This virtue of silence actually has another virtue contained within it, which is actually the third degree of prayer; contemplation. As Orthodox Christians, we know that St. Mary lived in the Temple until she was 12 years old. So being under the tutelage of the people serving in the Temple and seeing the priests and the Levites in their service, praying, offering incense, singing Psalms and hymns, and the people coming to the Temple to pray, she definitely had a very strong spiritual childhood. So she learned how to pray, and this contemplation no doubt, must have grown from her hearing the priests teaching the people in the Temple. Father Markos Hanna said, “St. Mary didn’t mix playing with praying.”
We also see in her the virtue of very strong faith. After the Annunciation that the Christ would be born through her, a virgin, she didn’t argue, but asked how it would happen, and after Gabriel answered her, “Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word’” (Luke 1:38). This faith cannot be paralleled, because the result of this faith caused the Incarnation to happen in her womb. If she didn’t have that faith, the Incarnation would have taken place elsewhere. God would not have become incarnate through one who didn’t believe, but only through one who believed with unshakable faith. It was through a lack of faith that the transgression happened, because Eve didn’t believe God with unshakable faith but when Satan tempted her, she sinned. So for the transgression to be destroyed, it must have left the same way it entered, and Mary’s strong faith set the way, “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). The Holy Spirit bears witness of this faith when He filled St. Elizabeth causing her to prophesy, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
The virtue of humility is seen in her more than any other Saint for this reason alone: she gave birth to God the Son in the flesh and still remained humble. The satanic, burning pride that could have come from this is stronger than any other temptation, because she became the one through whom He took His humanity; the only one from the human race who bore God in the flesh. This humility is seen when St. Mary went to Elizabeth, as it says, “Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth…And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house” (Luke 1:39-40, 56). Elizabeth was old and Mary knew that the pregnancy would be very hard for her, so she didn’t think to herself that she should be the one served, but rather went to serve. This showed St. Mary’s humility.
The list of the virtues of St. Mary goes on, but for the sake of the length of this article we will stop here and talk about the deeper things, the theological things. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that the Saints are praying for us and are united with us. This is why in the Church’s Architecture (which is a form of expressing theology) we have a dome (symbolic of Heaven) and a rectangular building (symbolic of the earth). The Gospel of John bears witness of the Divinity of Christ, and in John’s Gospel he records that at the Wedding at Cana of Galilee, when the wine ran out, St. Mary came to Jesus saying, “‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come’” (John 2:3-4). The interesting thing is that in the original language, Jesus response more literally means, “What is that to Me and you?” St. Mary was interceding for the servants of the Wedding, and she knew that her Son would know what to do. This verse shows how close the relationship between Jesus and Mary was, for she didn’t say to Him what to do, but said, “They have no wine.” This resulted in the first sign Jesus did.
The intercession of Saints in prayer works this way. Firstly, why should the Saints stop praying for us in Heaven, if they prayed for us here on Earth? And secondly, when we get into an argument with someone, and we want to go apologize, and the other party is not very close to us, they more than likely will not accept our supplication. But when we know someone who is very close to them, we ask them to intercede for us, and most of the time it works, because the relationship between the intercessor and the other party is much stronger than the relationship between us and the other party.
We just had the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary a little over a week ago, and at my church, we had several priests come as guest speakers throughout the last week of the fast. The first one of these guest speakers, Father Daniel Habib, said something very profound, he said something like “We aren’t led to Christ through Mary, but we are led to Mary because of Christ. We are supposed to be at the Cross with Jesus Christ daily, and there we find His Mother and the Disciple John.” He then spoke about how in many of our churches (The Coptic Orthodox), we have an icon at the very top of the iconostasis which portrays the Crucifixion and Mary and John standing at the foot of the Cross.
Let us learn from the example of the greatest Saint, Saint Mary, so we can become closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May her prayers be with us all and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
St. Mary is an example to us because of her many virtues. She is not mentioned a lot in the Bible, but through what is mentioned about her we can perceive these many virtues.
The first virtue that we see in her is silence; she didn’t talk a lot. While so many youth in this generation talk so idly, and gossip, and hurt each other’s feelings, and waste time, St. Mary did not. After the greeting by Gabriel the Archangel, she “considered what manner of greeting this was,” (Luke 1:29) not argued. After the shepherds came and worshiped Jesus Christ shortly after His birth, she also remained silent and “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). And when Simeon the Elder took up Jesus in his arms and prophesied about Him, she and Joseph “marveled at those things which were spoken of Him” (Luke 2:33). Also after they had lost Jesus from their company when He was 12 years old, she did not yell at Him and scold Him, but after hearing what He said to them, she “kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
This virtue of silence actually has another virtue contained within it, which is actually the third degree of prayer; contemplation. As Orthodox Christians, we know that St. Mary lived in the Temple until she was 12 years old. So being under the tutelage of the people serving in the Temple and seeing the priests and the Levites in their service, praying, offering incense, singing Psalms and hymns, and the people coming to the Temple to pray, she definitely had a very strong spiritual childhood. So she learned how to pray, and this contemplation no doubt, must have grown from her hearing the priests teaching the people in the Temple. Father Markos Hanna said, “St. Mary didn’t mix playing with praying.”
We also see in her the virtue of very strong faith. After the Annunciation that the Christ would be born through her, a virgin, she didn’t argue, but asked how it would happen, and after Gabriel answered her, “Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word’” (Luke 1:38). This faith cannot be paralleled, because the result of this faith caused the Incarnation to happen in her womb. If she didn’t have that faith, the Incarnation would have taken place elsewhere. God would not have become incarnate through one who didn’t believe, but only through one who believed with unshakable faith. It was through a lack of faith that the transgression happened, because Eve didn’t believe God with unshakable faith but when Satan tempted her, she sinned. So for the transgression to be destroyed, it must have left the same way it entered, and Mary’s strong faith set the way, “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). The Holy Spirit bears witness of this faith when He filled St. Elizabeth causing her to prophesy, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
The virtue of humility is seen in her more than any other Saint for this reason alone: she gave birth to God the Son in the flesh and still remained humble. The satanic, burning pride that could have come from this is stronger than any other temptation, because she became the one through whom He took His humanity; the only one from the human race who bore God in the flesh. This humility is seen when St. Mary went to Elizabeth, as it says, “Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth…And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house” (Luke 1:39-40, 56). Elizabeth was old and Mary knew that the pregnancy would be very hard for her, so she didn’t think to herself that she should be the one served, but rather went to serve. This showed St. Mary’s humility.
The list of the virtues of St. Mary goes on, but for the sake of the length of this article we will stop here and talk about the deeper things, the theological things. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that the Saints are praying for us and are united with us. This is why in the Church’s Architecture (which is a form of expressing theology) we have a dome (symbolic of Heaven) and a rectangular building (symbolic of the earth). The Gospel of John bears witness of the Divinity of Christ, and in John’s Gospel he records that at the Wedding at Cana of Galilee, when the wine ran out, St. Mary came to Jesus saying, “‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come’” (John 2:3-4). The interesting thing is that in the original language, Jesus response more literally means, “What is that to Me and you?” St. Mary was interceding for the servants of the Wedding, and she knew that her Son would know what to do. This verse shows how close the relationship between Jesus and Mary was, for she didn’t say to Him what to do, but said, “They have no wine.” This resulted in the first sign Jesus did.
The intercession of Saints in prayer works this way. Firstly, why should the Saints stop praying for us in Heaven, if they prayed for us here on Earth? And secondly, when we get into an argument with someone, and we want to go apologize, and the other party is not very close to us, they more than likely will not accept our supplication. But when we know someone who is very close to them, we ask them to intercede for us, and most of the time it works, because the relationship between the intercessor and the other party is much stronger than the relationship between us and the other party.
We just had the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary a little over a week ago, and at my church, we had several priests come as guest speakers throughout the last week of the fast. The first one of these guest speakers, Father Daniel Habib, said something very profound, he said something like “We aren’t led to Christ through Mary, but we are led to Mary because of Christ. We are supposed to be at the Cross with Jesus Christ daily, and there we find His Mother and the Disciple John.” He then spoke about how in many of our churches (The Coptic Orthodox), we have an icon at the very top of the iconostasis which portrays the Crucifixion and Mary and John standing at the foot of the Cross.
Let us learn from the example of the greatest Saint, Saint Mary, so we can become closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May her prayers be with us all and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Students
Last week I spoke about teachers and what should be expected of those that teach the people of God. This week I will continue by speaking about how students should be. First I will begin with the words of the Gospel, “Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 8:2-4).
These verses highlight how we should be as Christians and apply excellently for us as students because humility is the virtue where we are fully aware of God. First point is that young children are teachable because of their humility. Last week at church after most people left, there were two young children standing outside the doors of the church, and one of them was trying to tie the others’ shoes and she wasn’t able to, so I asked her if her brother needed his shoes tied, she answered yes. I then showed her how to tie it, and both stood there and learned. Their humility is what allowed them to learn. Today for so many reasons people like to magnify themselves, many times in this generation, if a younger person tries to teach an older person about anything at all (especially school teachers) they will get offended and go “Aw, what, are you trying to teach me? Are you saying that you know and I don’t?” And such comments like that. Sometimes this leads to the Satanic, burning pride, which destroys people. This pride separates people from God more than any other sin can, because in the words of C.S. Lewis, “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind,” and, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” And God is infinitely above us, and the only ways we can get close to Him are through humility, virtues, and prayer. As St. Paul the Apostle says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1).
The second point about the willingness to learn of younger children is that younger children are quiet when they WANT to learn something. These two just stood there, listened, and watched quietly until I was finished tying the shoes. They didn’t talk or ask questions every single step of the way, but watched and when they watched and paid careful attention, they learned it completely. I didn’t even have to go over it again. We should follow the example of the children and be quiet while the priest or the youth leader is teaching. Especially in the case of the priest, because these priests weren’t just ordained for any reason, they were closely monitored by the Bishops to see if they were adequate to teach and also important to give good advice during Confession. We shouldn’t turn to our friends in church and start talking to them when the priest or the youth leader is giving a lesson, we should listen intently and think about what they are saying.
We are old enough to understand that there is nothing more important that our salvation and Salvation is our Lord Jesus Christ (that’s the meaning of His Name) who loved us to the very end. We should spend as much time as we have available to learn about Him. We, the Church, are betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and during a REAL engagement, one doesn’t just find a person ask them to get married in a couple of days, but the two spend a long time together, getting to know each other, so that they can understand each other better. That’s the case in any relationship, and the same is true with our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we know more about Him, and His will for us, and what he wants us to do, we cannot pray effectively because then we won’t know what to pray for, in fact some of the prayers might be evil but we won’t be aware of it.
So being a student isn’t just something abstract but it has practical effects when we apply it. There are too many stories about people who heard the words of the Bible and applied it dynamically and from the heart, as it says in the Bible, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) and also, “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13). So by being students we receive faith, and faith produces works, which is the sign that that faith is alive.
Also we should be students to everything that happens to us, to learn from every experience and let it increase our wisdom. If we can’t take something good from the experiences that we go through and learn from it, then we are letting it go to waste and through this way we waste our time and fall into sin, because some of these events cause complaining, cussing, swearing, hurting other people’s feelings and so on, but we should be pure because, “to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).
So let us start looking at the good instead of the bad, and learning from the experiences we go through and glory be to God forever. Amen.
These verses highlight how we should be as Christians and apply excellently for us as students because humility is the virtue where we are fully aware of God. First point is that young children are teachable because of their humility. Last week at church after most people left, there were two young children standing outside the doors of the church, and one of them was trying to tie the others’ shoes and she wasn’t able to, so I asked her if her brother needed his shoes tied, she answered yes. I then showed her how to tie it, and both stood there and learned. Their humility is what allowed them to learn. Today for so many reasons people like to magnify themselves, many times in this generation, if a younger person tries to teach an older person about anything at all (especially school teachers) they will get offended and go “Aw, what, are you trying to teach me? Are you saying that you know and I don’t?” And such comments like that. Sometimes this leads to the Satanic, burning pride, which destroys people. This pride separates people from God more than any other sin can, because in the words of C.S. Lewis, “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind,” and, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” And God is infinitely above us, and the only ways we can get close to Him are through humility, virtues, and prayer. As St. Paul the Apostle says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1).
The second point about the willingness to learn of younger children is that younger children are quiet when they WANT to learn something. These two just stood there, listened, and watched quietly until I was finished tying the shoes. They didn’t talk or ask questions every single step of the way, but watched and when they watched and paid careful attention, they learned it completely. I didn’t even have to go over it again. We should follow the example of the children and be quiet while the priest or the youth leader is teaching. Especially in the case of the priest, because these priests weren’t just ordained for any reason, they were closely monitored by the Bishops to see if they were adequate to teach and also important to give good advice during Confession. We shouldn’t turn to our friends in church and start talking to them when the priest or the youth leader is giving a lesson, we should listen intently and think about what they are saying.
We are old enough to understand that there is nothing more important that our salvation and Salvation is our Lord Jesus Christ (that’s the meaning of His Name) who loved us to the very end. We should spend as much time as we have available to learn about Him. We, the Church, are betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and during a REAL engagement, one doesn’t just find a person ask them to get married in a couple of days, but the two spend a long time together, getting to know each other, so that they can understand each other better. That’s the case in any relationship, and the same is true with our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we know more about Him, and His will for us, and what he wants us to do, we cannot pray effectively because then we won’t know what to pray for, in fact some of the prayers might be evil but we won’t be aware of it.
So being a student isn’t just something abstract but it has practical effects when we apply it. There are too many stories about people who heard the words of the Bible and applied it dynamically and from the heart, as it says in the Bible, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) and also, “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13). So by being students we receive faith, and faith produces works, which is the sign that that faith is alive.
Also we should be students to everything that happens to us, to learn from every experience and let it increase our wisdom. If we can’t take something good from the experiences that we go through and learn from it, then we are letting it go to waste and through this way we waste our time and fall into sin, because some of these events cause complaining, cussing, swearing, hurting other people’s feelings and so on, but we should be pure because, “to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).
So let us start looking at the good instead of the bad, and learning from the experiences we go through and glory be to God forever. Amen.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Teachers
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” -James 3:1-2
Teachers are a gift from God, because through teachers we know the way of truth, and how to walk straight in the spiritual life. Teaching is one of five ministerial gifts that Our Lord Jesus Christ gives, as it says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Today, however, so many false teachers have arisen, to a startling degree. This has come because of the rise of more tolerant Protestantism and because of the love of being a teacher for the experience. In this society, it is considered a great thing to think for oneself, and unfortunately the west applies this to the Bible. This is wrong for two reasons: Firstly, how do we know our thinking is right? Secondly, the Bible never, ever encourages thinking, but rather change of thinking (metanoia), the word which we translate as repentance. Repentance doesn’t just mean to stop sinning, but it describes our life after coming to God. So today, anyone picks up the Bible, and is a recent convert, he doesn’t know what the Bible says and teaches and hasn’t experienced its practical application and all of a sudden wants to teach! His church however doesn’t accept the idea, but instead of being humble and obeying and submitting to the church, he leaves and starts his own church so he could be the teacher and pastor. And unfortunately this is what has led to the number of Protestant denominations numbering between 20,000 to 30,000 and all because of significant doctrinal differences.
Another reason for this explosion in number of false teachers is the fact that the things they teach appeals to those who are not of a sound mind, just as St. Paul the Apostle instructs St. Timothy in his service as a Bishop, “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” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). St. Peter warns the entire Church in his Universal Epistle saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1-3). This is a very dangerous point, do you see what he says, “There will be false teachers among you… denying even the Lord who bought them.” At this point, they cease to be Christians, and become cultists, because as I have pointed out before, the word “Christian” means “Of the Nation of Christ,” and if one denies Christ, he ceases to be a Christian.
A Teacher has to be an example to his students, which is why St. James the Apostle says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things,” then he continues to say why, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:1-2). This means he has to be an example to those he teaches as well as those he doesn’t, so they can see Christ both in his deeds and his words. And when it comes to word, the teacher should be excelling, not just like anyone else from the laity, but one who can accurately and deeply bear witness to God. Today teachers teach in a very superficial and in a way teachers shouldn’t teach. Especially in the Church these days, they research something and learn about it for a couple of days and then they teach an entire congregation about it! No, this shouldn’t be! It should be that the teacher should teach from the richness of the wisdom he has been given, and not in this superficial sense. This method of teaching something one just learned a couple of days before causes so many problems, such as answering questions. A teacher should not answer questions he doesn’t know the answers to. This will only cause confusion on the part of the one asking, and might cause him or her to question the faith because the teacher couldn’t answer. This fact of the teacher answering, and knowing he doesn’t have the answer to the question, is a manifestation of pride, because then they lose sight of God and His plan for teachers to spread His message, to the teacher answering because he doesn’t want the people to question his understanding.
In the ancient times, during the centuries right before and after the New Testament, teachers didn’t teach from a curriculum, and they didn’t teach on a topic that they spent the previous day researching, they taught from the richness of their wisdom and taught with enthusiasm, and with great conviction. This is evident in the style of the New Testament writers, especially in the Epistles, where the Apostles talk about Christ in the Old Testament, and later on in the Church Fathers when they further expounded on the faith. The Church Fathers were educated in this same exact manner, and one sees it very clearly in the writings of such fathers as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. Cyril of Alexandria. They also expressed their own thoughts and meditations, which unlike today’s generation, was illuminated by the Holy Spirit and focused completely on the Person of Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through none other than Jesus Christ. These Church Fathers by far had the Holy Spirit in a much greater measure than today’s generation has. They expositions are truly beautiful indeed, and they taught by a very simple principle, and that was to teach what you know. For a very small example, concerning the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 which says, “To possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,” some of the Church Fathers said this referred to yourself, and others said it refers to your spouse. Now to someone who doesn’t understand the theology of the Church, they would see this as a contradiction, but we knowing that the husband and wife become one during the Sacrament of Matrimony, see it as a revelation from the Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t teach something we don’t know, because our faith is not a set of ideas and far away doctrines, it is a living faith, it is a life itself. So if something seems far to one of us, we shouldn’t teach on it, and we should spend time in prayer to God until we come to the level where the full effect and implications of any doctrine is fully realized in our lives. Then we can have the Spirit of God to the measure that they had Him. They did not have Him because they were saints, but we venerate them as saints because of the work He had in their lives. We should follow the example of the many saints that have come before us, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And glory be to God forever. Amen.
Teachers are a gift from God, because through teachers we know the way of truth, and how to walk straight in the spiritual life. Teaching is one of five ministerial gifts that Our Lord Jesus Christ gives, as it says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Today, however, so many false teachers have arisen, to a startling degree. This has come because of the rise of more tolerant Protestantism and because of the love of being a teacher for the experience. In this society, it is considered a great thing to think for oneself, and unfortunately the west applies this to the Bible. This is wrong for two reasons: Firstly, how do we know our thinking is right? Secondly, the Bible never, ever encourages thinking, but rather change of thinking (metanoia), the word which we translate as repentance. Repentance doesn’t just mean to stop sinning, but it describes our life after coming to God. So today, anyone picks up the Bible, and is a recent convert, he doesn’t know what the Bible says and teaches and hasn’t experienced its practical application and all of a sudden wants to teach! His church however doesn’t accept the idea, but instead of being humble and obeying and submitting to the church, he leaves and starts his own church so he could be the teacher and pastor. And unfortunately this is what has led to the number of Protestant denominations numbering between 20,000 to 30,000 and all because of significant doctrinal differences.
Another reason for this explosion in number of false teachers is the fact that the things they teach appeals to those who are not of a sound mind, just as St. Paul the Apostle instructs St. Timothy in his service as a Bishop, “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” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). St. Peter warns the entire Church in his Universal Epistle saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1-3). This is a very dangerous point, do you see what he says, “There will be false teachers among you… denying even the Lord who bought them.” At this point, they cease to be Christians, and become cultists, because as I have pointed out before, the word “Christian” means “Of the Nation of Christ,” and if one denies Christ, he ceases to be a Christian.
A Teacher has to be an example to his students, which is why St. James the Apostle says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things,” then he continues to say why, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:1-2). This means he has to be an example to those he teaches as well as those he doesn’t, so they can see Christ both in his deeds and his words. And when it comes to word, the teacher should be excelling, not just like anyone else from the laity, but one who can accurately and deeply bear witness to God. Today teachers teach in a very superficial and in a way teachers shouldn’t teach. Especially in the Church these days, they research something and learn about it for a couple of days and then they teach an entire congregation about it! No, this shouldn’t be! It should be that the teacher should teach from the richness of the wisdom he has been given, and not in this superficial sense. This method of teaching something one just learned a couple of days before causes so many problems, such as answering questions. A teacher should not answer questions he doesn’t know the answers to. This will only cause confusion on the part of the one asking, and might cause him or her to question the faith because the teacher couldn’t answer. This fact of the teacher answering, and knowing he doesn’t have the answer to the question, is a manifestation of pride, because then they lose sight of God and His plan for teachers to spread His message, to the teacher answering because he doesn’t want the people to question his understanding.
In the ancient times, during the centuries right before and after the New Testament, teachers didn’t teach from a curriculum, and they didn’t teach on a topic that they spent the previous day researching, they taught from the richness of their wisdom and taught with enthusiasm, and with great conviction. This is evident in the style of the New Testament writers, especially in the Epistles, where the Apostles talk about Christ in the Old Testament, and later on in the Church Fathers when they further expounded on the faith. The Church Fathers were educated in this same exact manner, and one sees it very clearly in the writings of such fathers as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. Cyril of Alexandria. They also expressed their own thoughts and meditations, which unlike today’s generation, was illuminated by the Holy Spirit and focused completely on the Person of Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through none other than Jesus Christ. These Church Fathers by far had the Holy Spirit in a much greater measure than today’s generation has. They expositions are truly beautiful indeed, and they taught by a very simple principle, and that was to teach what you know. For a very small example, concerning the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 which says, “To possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,” some of the Church Fathers said this referred to yourself, and others said it refers to your spouse. Now to someone who doesn’t understand the theology of the Church, they would see this as a contradiction, but we knowing that the husband and wife become one during the Sacrament of Matrimony, see it as a revelation from the Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t teach something we don’t know, because our faith is not a set of ideas and far away doctrines, it is a living faith, it is a life itself. So if something seems far to one of us, we shouldn’t teach on it, and we should spend time in prayer to God until we come to the level where the full effect and implications of any doctrine is fully realized in our lives. Then we can have the Spirit of God to the measure that they had Him. They did not have Him because they were saints, but we venerate them as saints because of the work He had in their lives. We should follow the example of the many saints that have come before us, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And glory be to God forever. Amen.
Monday, August 3, 2009
The New Martyrdom
“Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” -St. Mark the Ascetic
I was at the annual convention for college youth of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern California last week, and it was quite an experience. There was our Bishop, and the Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, and several priests from our Diocese. There were over 210 youth in attendance, and A.C. Green, who was formerly a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers came and spoke to us on purity. I will reflect on some of things that came out of the retreat which are beneficial to us as Christians in a western society.
The topic of the retreat was called “The New Martyrdom.” Some will probably get confused when they read this and wonder as to what it is referring. I have quoted from others before in this blog the saying which says that living a pure life in this culture and society is a type of martyrdom. This retreat went on to define that better and help us to lead a pure life.
After we had dinner and got into our groups we went to the conference hall and received our Bishops. Our Bishop, Bishop Serapion, then introduced His Grace the Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel, and we commenced in the talks. Bishop Suriel gave an introduction as to what the New Martyrdom is and said two important things in this first talk. First was that in western society peer pressure is disappearing because we are no longer being pressured into things, others EXPECT us to do these things which are not acceptable for us as Christians. This EXPECTATION is one of the main reasons as to why western society is starting to go downhill quickly. He then talked about something which he called, “The Frog in Kettle Syndrome.” He described how if one puts a frog in a kettle of water, the frog won’t like it at first but then will become used to it very quickly, and if one keeps raising the temperature higher and higher the frog will keep adjusting. He used this to illustrate how tolerance works and how in the end tolerance will burn up the person because of all the bad things it leads us into and unfortunately as time goes on, it leads the people to approve the things they once didn’t. Afterward we sang our praises and prayed, then we were finished for the day, which means our free time, even if it’s 11:30 at night.
The next day commenced with prayers and breakfast then Bishop Suriel began the second talk. This talk was about how we as Christians view sexuality and what God commanded us, and how the world views it. This talk was supported by some very strong statistics. One of these statistics was absolutely horrifying: 70% of young women and 62% of young men have had sex by the age of 18. Wow, what happened? What happened is God is no longer the focus of these people; their desires are first to them. They have also lost the meaning of true love and confused it with lust. “Love gives, lust takes; love values, lust uses; love endures, lust subsides,” His Grace Bishop Suriel said.
The west has concerned itself with the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world. It has become very materialistic. They always want the newest things on the market and still there is no satisfaction and still the complaints continue. All these things they use to pick out a mate, and then have sex. Sex has become one of the biggest concerns and fascinations of this western society. That is why most of the movies that come out today have sexual scenes in them. Honestly, if one goes to a theater and compares how many movies rated PG-13 or R to PG or G there are, they will find that the former is way more than the latter. Another thing His Grace Bishop Suriel said which we should contemplate on is “Love is a process, sex is an act; love is learned, sex is instinctive.” This rampage of premarital and even extramarital sex has darkened this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
Following the second talk, we had group discussions, quiet time, free time and lunch. After lunch A.C. Green came and spoke to us about how he kept his purity during his career in the NBA. He spoke about some of the temptations that he went through, and how he didn’t compromise himself by overcoming the temptations. One of the things that he said which has been fixed in my head is that he said that we always have an audience of one, and that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. We should follow his example and keep the same mindset as he has kept. His talk was really refreshing, to see someone like him valuing his faith more than anything else.
I will now skip to the last talk which took place later that night by His Grace the Bishop again. This one spoke about practical application to staying pure. It gave more statistics as to problems in this country because of its insatiable desire for sex. One statistic I found very interesting which observed that 2/3 of divorces in a year is caused by pornography. He then spoke about the whole armor of God, and how the helmet’s purpose is to protect the head, that is to protect us from the evil thoughts that we have. He made another illustration of an open house. He said our lives are not like an open house policy because if a storm comes it will enter the house, and ruin everything in it. He reminded us in the end that some kinds do “not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Thus we are encouraged to fast when we enter into temptation, and how often does that happen! This is why our Church exercising the authority that our Lord Jesus Christ gave Her ordained so many periods of fasting, that we would be able to overcome temptation, grow in our faith, focus on our prayers, and cause them to be heard by God.
A saying that kept coming up again and again in this convention was one by St. Anthony which goes something like, “There will come a day when the mad people will look at the normal people and say, ‘Look at the normal person, he is mad because he is not like us.’” (Or something like that, I couldn’t copy down the whole quote in time). And this is true. People today think it is strange for us to value our virginity and purity. They are not able to understand why we keep ourselves pure. It is because God is not their focus, and they are not close to Him. They are carried away by the lusts of the world and the lusts of the flesh. We are persecuted today because of this. I don’t mean like the martyrs of old, but mentally. How many times are we pressured to do what the world wants us to do, and are embarrassed and made fun of when we refuse to follow their ways, it is like St. Mark the Ascetic said, “Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” Purity is the New Martyrdom.
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
I was at the annual convention for college youth of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern California last week, and it was quite an experience. There was our Bishop, and the Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, and several priests from our Diocese. There were over 210 youth in attendance, and A.C. Green, who was formerly a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers came and spoke to us on purity. I will reflect on some of things that came out of the retreat which are beneficial to us as Christians in a western society.
The topic of the retreat was called “The New Martyrdom.” Some will probably get confused when they read this and wonder as to what it is referring. I have quoted from others before in this blog the saying which says that living a pure life in this culture and society is a type of martyrdom. This retreat went on to define that better and help us to lead a pure life.
After we had dinner and got into our groups we went to the conference hall and received our Bishops. Our Bishop, Bishop Serapion, then introduced His Grace the Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel, and we commenced in the talks. Bishop Suriel gave an introduction as to what the New Martyrdom is and said two important things in this first talk. First was that in western society peer pressure is disappearing because we are no longer being pressured into things, others EXPECT us to do these things which are not acceptable for us as Christians. This EXPECTATION is one of the main reasons as to why western society is starting to go downhill quickly. He then talked about something which he called, “The Frog in Kettle Syndrome.” He described how if one puts a frog in a kettle of water, the frog won’t like it at first but then will become used to it very quickly, and if one keeps raising the temperature higher and higher the frog will keep adjusting. He used this to illustrate how tolerance works and how in the end tolerance will burn up the person because of all the bad things it leads us into and unfortunately as time goes on, it leads the people to approve the things they once didn’t. Afterward we sang our praises and prayed, then we were finished for the day, which means our free time, even if it’s 11:30 at night.
The next day commenced with prayers and breakfast then Bishop Suriel began the second talk. This talk was about how we as Christians view sexuality and what God commanded us, and how the world views it. This talk was supported by some very strong statistics. One of these statistics was absolutely horrifying: 70% of young women and 62% of young men have had sex by the age of 18. Wow, what happened? What happened is God is no longer the focus of these people; their desires are first to them. They have also lost the meaning of true love and confused it with lust. “Love gives, lust takes; love values, lust uses; love endures, lust subsides,” His Grace Bishop Suriel said.
The west has concerned itself with the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world. It has become very materialistic. They always want the newest things on the market and still there is no satisfaction and still the complaints continue. All these things they use to pick out a mate, and then have sex. Sex has become one of the biggest concerns and fascinations of this western society. That is why most of the movies that come out today have sexual scenes in them. Honestly, if one goes to a theater and compares how many movies rated PG-13 or R to PG or G there are, they will find that the former is way more than the latter. Another thing His Grace Bishop Suriel said which we should contemplate on is “Love is a process, sex is an act; love is learned, sex is instinctive.” This rampage of premarital and even extramarital sex has darkened this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
Following the second talk, we had group discussions, quiet time, free time and lunch. After lunch A.C. Green came and spoke to us about how he kept his purity during his career in the NBA. He spoke about some of the temptations that he went through, and how he didn’t compromise himself by overcoming the temptations. One of the things that he said which has been fixed in my head is that he said that we always have an audience of one, and that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. We should follow his example and keep the same mindset as he has kept. His talk was really refreshing, to see someone like him valuing his faith more than anything else.
I will now skip to the last talk which took place later that night by His Grace the Bishop again. This one spoke about practical application to staying pure. It gave more statistics as to problems in this country because of its insatiable desire for sex. One statistic I found very interesting which observed that 2/3 of divorces in a year is caused by pornography. He then spoke about the whole armor of God, and how the helmet’s purpose is to protect the head, that is to protect us from the evil thoughts that we have. He made another illustration of an open house. He said our lives are not like an open house policy because if a storm comes it will enter the house, and ruin everything in it. He reminded us in the end that some kinds do “not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Thus we are encouraged to fast when we enter into temptation, and how often does that happen! This is why our Church exercising the authority that our Lord Jesus Christ gave Her ordained so many periods of fasting, that we would be able to overcome temptation, grow in our faith, focus on our prayers, and cause them to be heard by God.
A saying that kept coming up again and again in this convention was one by St. Anthony which goes something like, “There will come a day when the mad people will look at the normal people and say, ‘Look at the normal person, he is mad because he is not like us.’” (Or something like that, I couldn’t copy down the whole quote in time). And this is true. People today think it is strange for us to value our virginity and purity. They are not able to understand why we keep ourselves pure. It is because God is not their focus, and they are not close to Him. They are carried away by the lusts of the world and the lusts of the flesh. We are persecuted today because of this. I don’t mean like the martyrs of old, but mentally. How many times are we pressured to do what the world wants us to do, and are embarrassed and made fun of when we refuse to follow their ways, it is like St. Mark the Ascetic said, “Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” Purity is the New Martyrdom.
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Peace
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” -Matthew 5:9
Peace is such an amazing thing, it is something that cannot be easily grasped yet it is known and longed for by all. Peace is having inner contentment without materiality, meaning that we don’t need things such as iPods, iPhones, the best types of clothes, a nice car, and the coolest sunglasses out there to make ourselves content. This inner contentment can come from our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ alone, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14).
Our sins caused us to come out of communion from God and made the above mentioned middle wall of separation. Through Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection that middle wall was broken down and it caused the New Testament to begin. The New Testament began on that day, and the Old was completed. This has caused us, Mankind, to come back into communion with God in peace, and through faith we are saved.
An interesting note is that St. Paul the Apostle contrasts confusion and peace, making the two a sort of opposites, saying, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). If we look back at the origin of confusion we will end up in the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11. Mankind had united, but for the wrong reasons, so God confused their languages to make a barrier between them in differences of thought so that they would never be able to reunite again unless it was part of His plan, and we see that happening on the Birthday of the Church, on Pentecost when the Apostles spoke in different types of tongues. God united Mankind because they now followed Him, and all the nations were united once again in Christianity.
Peace is also a fruit of the spirit, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22. So if we spend our time in prayer, praise, reading and studying the Bible, and focusing on God, we will have peace, because that is how the order of godliness goes. This peace is immaterial meaning that it isn’t influenced by material things. The Fathers wrote on peace, but most interestingly the Russian Fathers spoke about peace in a very deep way. They said that if one had inner peace, this peace, that he would be able to convert thousands around him just by being near them. Because peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is also a sign that the Holy Spirit is cooperating with us. So it is for this reason that one who has inner peace is able to convert thousands, because the Holy Spirit is with him, and aside from the Holy Spirit we can do nothing.
Peace is one of God’s attributes. There was peace before the Creation and afterward also. It was how life was and it was the only thing the Creation knew. Even the most vicious of animals were in peace with the animals they hunt today and this original vision will be restored at the end of the world as it says, “‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25). It was only after the fall of man that disorder and malice began to enter into the Creation, but as the above verse assures us that the Creation will go back into its original vision, another verse makes it even clearer, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
So we should be comforted, knowing that these things will pass away, and the Creation’s ultimate purpose will be fulfilled on the Last Day. We are in the last days, ever since the Church was born, and our Lord Jesus Christ comforted us saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). We should always remind ourselves that He is coming, and we will have to give to Him an account of everything we have done on the Judgment Day. Knowing this fact we should have peace, and get rid of all our trivial worries and fears, so that they may not keep us from Him. And also the fact that we will have peace will cause us to be conformed even more to God’s image, because peace is an attribute of God.
Today in this world, especially in this country, life moves very fast. They consider that to be a good thing, but it isn’t. Because life moves so quickly today, we can easily get carried away from the faith, and start to slack concerning things such as prayer and Bible reading. H.G. Bishop Youssef, the Coptic Bishop of the Southern United States, used the analogy of a body of water, and how when the water is peaceful we can see our image in it. The same is true with God, He wants to see His image in us, but if we have no peace (if the water is moving too quickly), He will not be able to see His image in us. And if we are conformed to His image, then the promise of us becoming His children is fulfilled. This might be what was meant by our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Let us ask God to give us the virtue of peace, and that we would continually be conformed to His image. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Peace is such an amazing thing, it is something that cannot be easily grasped yet it is known and longed for by all. Peace is having inner contentment without materiality, meaning that we don’t need things such as iPods, iPhones, the best types of clothes, a nice car, and the coolest sunglasses out there to make ourselves content. This inner contentment can come from our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ alone, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14).
Our sins caused us to come out of communion from God and made the above mentioned middle wall of separation. Through Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection that middle wall was broken down and it caused the New Testament to begin. The New Testament began on that day, and the Old was completed. This has caused us, Mankind, to come back into communion with God in peace, and through faith we are saved.
An interesting note is that St. Paul the Apostle contrasts confusion and peace, making the two a sort of opposites, saying, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). If we look back at the origin of confusion we will end up in the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11. Mankind had united, but for the wrong reasons, so God confused their languages to make a barrier between them in differences of thought so that they would never be able to reunite again unless it was part of His plan, and we see that happening on the Birthday of the Church, on Pentecost when the Apostles spoke in different types of tongues. God united Mankind because they now followed Him, and all the nations were united once again in Christianity.
Peace is also a fruit of the spirit, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22. So if we spend our time in prayer, praise, reading and studying the Bible, and focusing on God, we will have peace, because that is how the order of godliness goes. This peace is immaterial meaning that it isn’t influenced by material things. The Fathers wrote on peace, but most interestingly the Russian Fathers spoke about peace in a very deep way. They said that if one had inner peace, this peace, that he would be able to convert thousands around him just by being near them. Because peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is also a sign that the Holy Spirit is cooperating with us. So it is for this reason that one who has inner peace is able to convert thousands, because the Holy Spirit is with him, and aside from the Holy Spirit we can do nothing.
Peace is one of God’s attributes. There was peace before the Creation and afterward also. It was how life was and it was the only thing the Creation knew. Even the most vicious of animals were in peace with the animals they hunt today and this original vision will be restored at the end of the world as it says, “‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25). It was only after the fall of man that disorder and malice began to enter into the Creation, but as the above verse assures us that the Creation will go back into its original vision, another verse makes it even clearer, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
So we should be comforted, knowing that these things will pass away, and the Creation’s ultimate purpose will be fulfilled on the Last Day. We are in the last days, ever since the Church was born, and our Lord Jesus Christ comforted us saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). We should always remind ourselves that He is coming, and we will have to give to Him an account of everything we have done on the Judgment Day. Knowing this fact we should have peace, and get rid of all our trivial worries and fears, so that they may not keep us from Him. And also the fact that we will have peace will cause us to be conformed even more to God’s image, because peace is an attribute of God.
Today in this world, especially in this country, life moves very fast. They consider that to be a good thing, but it isn’t. Because life moves so quickly today, we can easily get carried away from the faith, and start to slack concerning things such as prayer and Bible reading. H.G. Bishop Youssef, the Coptic Bishop of the Southern United States, used the analogy of a body of water, and how when the water is peaceful we can see our image in it. The same is true with God, He wants to see His image in us, but if we have no peace (if the water is moving too quickly), He will not be able to see His image in us. And if we are conformed to His image, then the promise of us becoming His children is fulfilled. This might be what was meant by our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Let us ask God to give us the virtue of peace, and that we would continually be conformed to His image. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Repentance
“From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” -Matthew 4:17
These are the first words that Jesus said marking the beginning of His public ministry. It is important to see that the subject is repentance. Because as Orthodox Christians we believe that we have to live a life of repentance. Salvation is not something that happens in a moment, it is a continuing process, and without repentance, we cannot attain Salvation.
Let’s start with defining terms. The word repentance in Greek is metanoia, this word’s roots literally means, “change of mind.” Hence, repentance is the act of changing one’s mind. This repentance first begins when we decide that we want to follow Jesus Christ. From that point on, repentance causes us to enter into the spiritual war set before us, and this life of testing, so that in the end we are proved in our faith, that it was both by word and deed.
Today there are many, many denominations that teach there is no need for repentance and that we shouldn’t feel a sense of conviction after we sin. But however, the Holy Spirit is the One who causes us to have these feelings. These feelings then turn us toward repentance and make us to watch more carefully in our spiritual life that we wouldn’t enter into these sins again. It is like a master disciplining a servant through beating that the servant would become better in his service. Through this conviction of the Holy Spirit causing us to repent we become closer to God as we are able, through His grace, to overcome those sins. As St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
In order to repent effectively we must have our focus directed to God. When we have God before us, we will not sin, just as it says in Psalm 16 (15 in the LXX), “I saw the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” It is also like a young child walking. His father and mother try to help him walk, and he focuses on them, sees them walking, and as he is younger, he will fall more often, but when he gets older, more mature, he will stop falling as often, little by little. The falling here is sinning, and the maturing is like the maturing in the faith.
Repentance should be sealed by the Sacrament of Confession. The Sacrament of Confession is very misunderstood. The Sacrament itself is more properly called the Sacrament of Repentance. Because the core of this Sacrament is that the priest advises the person confessing concerning his sin and on how to overcome it, and what spiritual practices to go through to progress further in their spiritual life. The priests are pastors, and pastors are shepherds (that’s what the word pastor literally means). And just like a shepherd walking in a pasture with his sheep, when he sees his sheep going astray he goes to them and guides them back to be with rest of the sheep. The priests do the same thing in the Sacrament of Confession; they guide the believer back into the way of righteousness. Those ordained to the priesthood have received the Holy Spirit for this service, as our Lord said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). And again He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). However, repentance must precede confession, because this is a spiritual journey, and nothing is automatic in the faith, you can’t push a button and reset everything. It needs effort.
There is much more to repentance, much deeper theology and application to life. But this article’s purpose is to give a small part of it for the sake of encouragement to repentance. But repentance is how any of us come to God, and it’s what causes us to become closer to Him. Repentance is a life, it isn’t a moment. This life of repentance causes us to move closer to God, every time we repent. The examples of repentance are so numerous because on a daily basis we have to make choices, and every time we make the right, godly choice, we repent, because we changed our mind concerning the other choice. We repent from our sins by focusing on God again, after we momentarily are distracted by the enemy’s schemes. Repentance is the grace which God gives us because His loving mercy. Let us keep God always before our eyes and repent, as the Psalms so often say, one instance which says, “My eyes are always toward the Lord for He shall pluck my feet out of the trap” (Psalm 25:15).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
These are the first words that Jesus said marking the beginning of His public ministry. It is important to see that the subject is repentance. Because as Orthodox Christians we believe that we have to live a life of repentance. Salvation is not something that happens in a moment, it is a continuing process, and without repentance, we cannot attain Salvation.
Let’s start with defining terms. The word repentance in Greek is metanoia, this word’s roots literally means, “change of mind.” Hence, repentance is the act of changing one’s mind. This repentance first begins when we decide that we want to follow Jesus Christ. From that point on, repentance causes us to enter into the spiritual war set before us, and this life of testing, so that in the end we are proved in our faith, that it was both by word and deed.
Today there are many, many denominations that teach there is no need for repentance and that we shouldn’t feel a sense of conviction after we sin. But however, the Holy Spirit is the One who causes us to have these feelings. These feelings then turn us toward repentance and make us to watch more carefully in our spiritual life that we wouldn’t enter into these sins again. It is like a master disciplining a servant through beating that the servant would become better in his service. Through this conviction of the Holy Spirit causing us to repent we become closer to God as we are able, through His grace, to overcome those sins. As St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
In order to repent effectively we must have our focus directed to God. When we have God before us, we will not sin, just as it says in Psalm 16 (15 in the LXX), “I saw the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” It is also like a young child walking. His father and mother try to help him walk, and he focuses on them, sees them walking, and as he is younger, he will fall more often, but when he gets older, more mature, he will stop falling as often, little by little. The falling here is sinning, and the maturing is like the maturing in the faith.
Repentance should be sealed by the Sacrament of Confession. The Sacrament of Confession is very misunderstood. The Sacrament itself is more properly called the Sacrament of Repentance. Because the core of this Sacrament is that the priest advises the person confessing concerning his sin and on how to overcome it, and what spiritual practices to go through to progress further in their spiritual life. The priests are pastors, and pastors are shepherds (that’s what the word pastor literally means). And just like a shepherd walking in a pasture with his sheep, when he sees his sheep going astray he goes to them and guides them back to be with rest of the sheep. The priests do the same thing in the Sacrament of Confession; they guide the believer back into the way of righteousness. Those ordained to the priesthood have received the Holy Spirit for this service, as our Lord said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). And again He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). However, repentance must precede confession, because this is a spiritual journey, and nothing is automatic in the faith, you can’t push a button and reset everything. It needs effort.
There is much more to repentance, much deeper theology and application to life. But this article’s purpose is to give a small part of it for the sake of encouragement to repentance. But repentance is how any of us come to God, and it’s what causes us to become closer to Him. Repentance is a life, it isn’t a moment. This life of repentance causes us to move closer to God, every time we repent. The examples of repentance are so numerous because on a daily basis we have to make choices, and every time we make the right, godly choice, we repent, because we changed our mind concerning the other choice. We repent from our sins by focusing on God again, after we momentarily are distracted by the enemy’s schemes. Repentance is the grace which God gives us because His loving mercy. Let us keep God always before our eyes and repent, as the Psalms so often say, one instance which says, “My eyes are always toward the Lord for He shall pluck my feet out of the trap” (Psalm 25:15).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Judging Others
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” -Luke 6:37
Judgment by us is a grave problem and it causes relationships to be destroyed. There are many reasons as to why we judge. It might be because of arrogance, progression in the faith, insecurity, feeling as if one has accomplished a lot, knowledge, high grades, good looks, popularity, and such things. But for today I will talk only about the reasons as to why we judge others because of our accomplishments in the faith.
A reason is progression in the faith. We must remember that any progression we have made in our spiritual lives, is due to God alone. It is through His grace that we are able to proceed. An analogy of this grace is like a Father holding the hand of his young child. And the Father knows where He wants the young child to go, and as long as the child is holding the hand of the Father, or at least following Him, He will proceed and progress where he needs to go. The same is true with us, so we should find no reason to boast or parade ourselves in front of others because of the progression that we have made, because all glory is due to God for He is the One who led us, and we become the objects by which He is glorified. Therefore we should say with the David as in Psalm 34:2, “My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad,” and also St. Paul the Apostle says, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” -Galatians 6:14
If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing (not a sin they are walking in, because walking in sin and sinning are two different things). If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing, most often we will start committing that sin. This is to show the grace of God working in our lives to make us understand that we didn’t overcome the sin from ourselves, but through God we were able to because He is the One who overcame sin. So it is God’s grace that allows us to become free from sin, and not our own efforts. If we spend a lot of time in prayer on a regular basis, we become closer to Him, and He is all pure and holy. An illustration of this would be like a dirty object moving closer to an immense source of water, and that water coming down like a soft mist, will cause the dirt, little by little to be washed off the object, until when the object is with the source, it will become completely clean.
Another problem is gossip. If we gossip, we are judging others, because usually gossip involves judging the other person by criticizing something he or she does. Of this St. James the Apostle says, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law… There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” -James 4:11-12
A good way to keep ourselves from judging is to do this, to remember that whatever we are judging the others of, we are sinners too and we will be judged. The interesting thing is that if we judge others of judging, we are doing the same thing. So actually whatever judgment we are passing on them, we deserve. But we become blinded because of our pride when we start judging, and because of this we stop examining ourselves and repenting. The advice of St. Paul the Apostle applies perfectly to this situation when he says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). If we were to judge ourselves we would see that we are sinners, and we struggle just like those we are judging, and then we would repent. But when we stop judging ourselves and judge others, we add to our sins and on the Judgment Day we will be judged with the same measure that we judged as it says in the Gospel.
Last year I was sitting in the college group at our church and one of the girls in the group pulled out a quote from Mother Theresa and read it, which says, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” This is a strong saying, because if we judge people, we really don’t have time to love them because instead of walking with them in their journey, and encouraging them, and caring about them, we look down on them, and at its worst, we can actually tear them down by saying things to them coming from our judgment.
So when we start to have the impulse to start judging others, let us judge ourselves first, and remind ourselves that we are sinners too. Let us not get confused as to what judgment is though, we might see somebody committing a sin, and we care about that person, and we should do our duty as Christians to go and tell that person that we are concerned and try to help them to get over the sin and pray for them. This is isn’t judgment. Judgment is when we start bringing others below us and condemning them because of their struggles. However we should remember that there is one Judge, and He is Most Faithful and True, and All-Merciful. And remember in the end that we should repent and spend our time in prayer to God and in fellowship with the Church, the Body of Christ. And glory is always due to God, now and until the end, and forever. Amen.
Judgment by us is a grave problem and it causes relationships to be destroyed. There are many reasons as to why we judge. It might be because of arrogance, progression in the faith, insecurity, feeling as if one has accomplished a lot, knowledge, high grades, good looks, popularity, and such things. But for today I will talk only about the reasons as to why we judge others because of our accomplishments in the faith.
A reason is progression in the faith. We must remember that any progression we have made in our spiritual lives, is due to God alone. It is through His grace that we are able to proceed. An analogy of this grace is like a Father holding the hand of his young child. And the Father knows where He wants the young child to go, and as long as the child is holding the hand of the Father, or at least following Him, He will proceed and progress where he needs to go. The same is true with us, so we should find no reason to boast or parade ourselves in front of others because of the progression that we have made, because all glory is due to God for He is the One who led us, and we become the objects by which He is glorified. Therefore we should say with the David as in Psalm 34:2, “My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad,” and also St. Paul the Apostle says, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” -Galatians 6:14
If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing (not a sin they are walking in, because walking in sin and sinning are two different things). If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing, most often we will start committing that sin. This is to show the grace of God working in our lives to make us understand that we didn’t overcome the sin from ourselves, but through God we were able to because He is the One who overcame sin. So it is God’s grace that allows us to become free from sin, and not our own efforts. If we spend a lot of time in prayer on a regular basis, we become closer to Him, and He is all pure and holy. An illustration of this would be like a dirty object moving closer to an immense source of water, and that water coming down like a soft mist, will cause the dirt, little by little to be washed off the object, until when the object is with the source, it will become completely clean.
Another problem is gossip. If we gossip, we are judging others, because usually gossip involves judging the other person by criticizing something he or she does. Of this St. James the Apostle says, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law… There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” -James 4:11-12
A good way to keep ourselves from judging is to do this, to remember that whatever we are judging the others of, we are sinners too and we will be judged. The interesting thing is that if we judge others of judging, we are doing the same thing. So actually whatever judgment we are passing on them, we deserve. But we become blinded because of our pride when we start judging, and because of this we stop examining ourselves and repenting. The advice of St. Paul the Apostle applies perfectly to this situation when he says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). If we were to judge ourselves we would see that we are sinners, and we struggle just like those we are judging, and then we would repent. But when we stop judging ourselves and judge others, we add to our sins and on the Judgment Day we will be judged with the same measure that we judged as it says in the Gospel.
Last year I was sitting in the college group at our church and one of the girls in the group pulled out a quote from Mother Theresa and read it, which says, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” This is a strong saying, because if we judge people, we really don’t have time to love them because instead of walking with them in their journey, and encouraging them, and caring about them, we look down on them, and at its worst, we can actually tear them down by saying things to them coming from our judgment.
So when we start to have the impulse to start judging others, let us judge ourselves first, and remind ourselves that we are sinners too. Let us not get confused as to what judgment is though, we might see somebody committing a sin, and we care about that person, and we should do our duty as Christians to go and tell that person that we are concerned and try to help them to get over the sin and pray for them. This is isn’t judgment. Judgment is when we start bringing others below us and condemning them because of their struggles. However we should remember that there is one Judge, and He is Most Faithful and True, and All-Merciful. And remember in the end that we should repent and spend our time in prayer to God and in fellowship with the Church, the Body of Christ. And glory is always due to God, now and until the end, and forever. Amen.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Setting Goals
Setting goals for our spiritual life is a very important thing. Without it we can get nothing done. This is a very important principle and I will repeat it again, without setting goals, WE CAN GET NOTHING DONE! Because our whole faith is based off a goal, which is the salvation of our souls, as St. Peter the Apostle says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:6-9
St. Peter talks about us having been grieved by various trials that our faith would be proven true in the end. It is so easy for us today to become discouraged by anything. I was listening to a sermon this morning about missionary work and its difficulty, and I would like to give this as an example. It was a Bishop giving the sermon and he was talking about his days as a monk priest and how difficult it was for him to start up an Orthodox Church in the country he was preaching in. He continued on by saying that of the Orthodox Christians who were there, much of them left the country, and others didn’t have the enthusiasm for Church. This story, if one hears it, might discourage him or her from becoming missionaries, but we must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” This entire experience (and many others like it), go just to show how God works in our weaknesses to show His power, so that we cannot boast and take credit for anything He has done. And St. Paul continued afterward saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -1 Corinthians 12:9-10
So we must be encouraged, and we cannot rely on ourselves for effectiveness. We must rely on God by prayer. And when I say prayer, I don’t mean prayer at Church. If one only prays at Church and the rest of week when he or she does not pray, this is a lost soul. We should have personal prayers outside of the Church, and I am not talking about “Our Father.” Praying “Our Father,” reciting some Psalms, praying the Book of Hours and such are all great prayers, and they cause us to come closer to God, but these are one form of prayer, and there is another form, which is very crucial, that form is vocal prayer. Vocal prayer is when we pray using our own words coming straight from our heart. That means we tell God what we want directly, not thinking of it while reciting a Psalm or “Our Father.” This is confusion and “God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). God enjoys hearing our prayers, and hearing us from our hearts. The Psalms began as vocal prayer, and you see how close David was to the Lord. If we need encouragement, wisdom, and organization let us ask God.
The next step to setting goals is going to the Confession Priest. An often misunderstood fact about Fathers of Confession is that they are there to give you advice, and how great is the advice they give. Fathers of Confession have existed from the beginning of the Church, and this aspect of advice from them is not anything new, it goes back to the beginning too. Among the greatest examples of the Fathers of Confession are the Desert Fathers of Egypt. They were simple yet deep in the advice they gave, and they used the greatest of analogies and illustrations. If we want to set goals we should go to our Fathers of Confession, because unlike us they will look objectively, and the Holy Spirit will be working in them, as we shouldn’t forget, Confession is a Sacrament! They will guide us as to whether or not we should do something, and also how to go about achieving it.
Also, we should constantly be reading the Bible, because the Bible will help us while we are trying to achieve our goals. The Bible is called the Canon. The word canon is derived from the Greek word which means “the fixed reference point.” The Bible is inerrant, and the Church knowing so canonized it. Christianity and the message of the Bible has changed the entire world, it brought civilization to it. Most people don’t know that the nations that seem civilized today were very savage and practiced things that most would not be able to handle if they saw. But the Gospel of Christ brought order to the world. We should read the Bible regularly knowing it is the canon, and that it is the inerrant word of God. It will keep us focused on the faith, and will cause us to always be thinking about God. With this in mind, it will cause us to pray more often, and through prayer we will be closer to God.
Seeing this article we come to the final thing before setting out on achieving our goals, we must draw up a plan. We must have some structure as to what we are going to do before we do it, not after. This way we will focus on what we should do, and our goals will become easy for us, because everything will run smoothly. For example a student who wants to get an A on an exam without spending an all nighter and without cramming or going insane will draw up a plan. That plan might include starting to review the week before the exam, taking little by little every day, and then the final day before the exam, go over what was studied. This a well structured plan on how to achieve this goal. So we must make a plan for our spiritual goals, even by doing this we will reflect God’s image in us because He Himself made a plan. The Church Fathers use the word “economy” often, and if one doesn’t know the understanding of this term as used by the Church and the Church Fathers, he or she will become confused. This word simply means the plan that God had made for the salvation of mankind. So God Himself has a plan, so we should follow by making plans for our spiritual life, of course.
One final thing to remember is that if we expect some type of grace from God to just come to us without us doing anything, it will not. It says in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” If we want something in our spiritual life we must fight for it, by prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and all other ways we can think of. Nothing will just come to us without us fighting for it before.
So let us be watchful and pray concerning our spiritual lives, that we would set goals about how we are to serve God, so that we are able to say like St. Paul in Philippians 3:14, “I PRESS toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That way we can be closer to our salvation, Jesus Christ Our Lord. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
St. Peter talks about us having been grieved by various trials that our faith would be proven true in the end. It is so easy for us today to become discouraged by anything. I was listening to a sermon this morning about missionary work and its difficulty, and I would like to give this as an example. It was a Bishop giving the sermon and he was talking about his days as a monk priest and how difficult it was for him to start up an Orthodox Church in the country he was preaching in. He continued on by saying that of the Orthodox Christians who were there, much of them left the country, and others didn’t have the enthusiasm for Church. This story, if one hears it, might discourage him or her from becoming missionaries, but we must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” This entire experience (and many others like it), go just to show how God works in our weaknesses to show His power, so that we cannot boast and take credit for anything He has done. And St. Paul continued afterward saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -1 Corinthians 12:9-10
So we must be encouraged, and we cannot rely on ourselves for effectiveness. We must rely on God by prayer. And when I say prayer, I don’t mean prayer at Church. If one only prays at Church and the rest of week when he or she does not pray, this is a lost soul. We should have personal prayers outside of the Church, and I am not talking about “Our Father.” Praying “Our Father,” reciting some Psalms, praying the Book of Hours and such are all great prayers, and they cause us to come closer to God, but these are one form of prayer, and there is another form, which is very crucial, that form is vocal prayer. Vocal prayer is when we pray using our own words coming straight from our heart. That means we tell God what we want directly, not thinking of it while reciting a Psalm or “Our Father.” This is confusion and “God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). God enjoys hearing our prayers, and hearing us from our hearts. The Psalms began as vocal prayer, and you see how close David was to the Lord. If we need encouragement, wisdom, and organization let us ask God.
The next step to setting goals is going to the Confession Priest. An often misunderstood fact about Fathers of Confession is that they are there to give you advice, and how great is the advice they give. Fathers of Confession have existed from the beginning of the Church, and this aspect of advice from them is not anything new, it goes back to the beginning too. Among the greatest examples of the Fathers of Confession are the Desert Fathers of Egypt. They were simple yet deep in the advice they gave, and they used the greatest of analogies and illustrations. If we want to set goals we should go to our Fathers of Confession, because unlike us they will look objectively, and the Holy Spirit will be working in them, as we shouldn’t forget, Confession is a Sacrament! They will guide us as to whether or not we should do something, and also how to go about achieving it.
Also, we should constantly be reading the Bible, because the Bible will help us while we are trying to achieve our goals. The Bible is called the Canon. The word canon is derived from the Greek word which means “the fixed reference point.” The Bible is inerrant, and the Church knowing so canonized it. Christianity and the message of the Bible has changed the entire world, it brought civilization to it. Most people don’t know that the nations that seem civilized today were very savage and practiced things that most would not be able to handle if they saw. But the Gospel of Christ brought order to the world. We should read the Bible regularly knowing it is the canon, and that it is the inerrant word of God. It will keep us focused on the faith, and will cause us to always be thinking about God. With this in mind, it will cause us to pray more often, and through prayer we will be closer to God.
Seeing this article we come to the final thing before setting out on achieving our goals, we must draw up a plan. We must have some structure as to what we are going to do before we do it, not after. This way we will focus on what we should do, and our goals will become easy for us, because everything will run smoothly. For example a student who wants to get an A on an exam without spending an all nighter and without cramming or going insane will draw up a plan. That plan might include starting to review the week before the exam, taking little by little every day, and then the final day before the exam, go over what was studied. This a well structured plan on how to achieve this goal. So we must make a plan for our spiritual goals, even by doing this we will reflect God’s image in us because He Himself made a plan. The Church Fathers use the word “economy” often, and if one doesn’t know the understanding of this term as used by the Church and the Church Fathers, he or she will become confused. This word simply means the plan that God had made for the salvation of mankind. So God Himself has a plan, so we should follow by making plans for our spiritual life, of course.
One final thing to remember is that if we expect some type of grace from God to just come to us without us doing anything, it will not. It says in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” If we want something in our spiritual life we must fight for it, by prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and all other ways we can think of. Nothing will just come to us without us fighting for it before.
So let us be watchful and pray concerning our spiritual lives, that we would set goals about how we are to serve God, so that we are able to say like St. Paul in Philippians 3:14, “I PRESS toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That way we can be closer to our salvation, Jesus Christ Our Lord. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Evangelism
“‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” -Matthew 28:19-20
These verses are known as the Great Commission. They record the commandment of our Lord sending us into the world to preach the Gospel. It is the duty of every Christian to tell others about Jesus Christ. Now not all of us might be called to be evangelists or missionaries, but it isn’t only for evangelists or missionaries to TALK ABOUT the Gospel. Evangelists and missionaries are called to PREACH and SPREAD the Gospel, and they have received the Holy Spirit to do so. Others might be called to other forms of service, but we are all told to defend the faith and hope that is in us.
The Church of God is the body of Christ, and St. Paul the Apostle refers to this saying, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?” -1 Corinthians 12:12-19
This whole point is emphasized to show that we all have different forms of service to offer God and the Church. The majority of Protestants today always talk about evangelism, giving it more weight and importance over prayer and other things vital to the Christian life. They teach all to be evangelists, but this isn’t right, because as St. Paul said, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?” and so on. They criticize those who dedicate their lives to prayer by saying that they have cut themselves off from the world and have broken the Lord’s commandment. They forget that it was Moses who raised his hands while Israel fought in the valley, and as long as he had his hands raised Israel prevailed. This is a symbol of the spiritual war we are in as Christians, and how we are one body. Those whom Israel fought in the valley were symbolic of the spiritual powers that fight against us, and those from Israel who fought are symbolic of those who serve in the Church, whether Priests, Deacons, Evangelists, Teachers, etc. Moses was symbolic of those who pray for the service of the Church, and without him raising his hands, Israel was losing. This is symbolic of how we must have both service and prayer, but the service comes because of the prayer, without the prayer, the enemies prevail.
Today, we deal with much more people than any other generation before us dealt with in their lifetime. With all the schools, social networks, and text messaging, we have an opportunity to reach many people around us. But for some reason or another, we, especially the Orthodox don’t share our faith with others, even our best of friends. Why is it that we are not afraid to talk about sex, drugs, music, and gossip, but we are afraid to share our faith? I read in an article, I believe it was attached to the Orthodox Study Bible that said “the Orthodox Church is the best kept secret of America.” Now from certain aspects this is a very good thing, but from another aspect it means most people haven’t heard about us, and that is probably because we don’t share our faith. The Greek Orthodox have been here since the middle of the 19th Century, and there was a Russian Orthodox Saint, St. Herman, who preceded them and preached in Alaska to the indigenous tribes such as the Eskimos, in the 18th Century, while George Washington was still in office as President of the United States of America. St. Herman brought Orthodoxy to this continent, and translated the Bible for the first time to the language of the Native American tribes of Alaska. The Armenian Orthodox have been here since the early 1900s, the Syrian Orthodox since the 1950s, and the Coptic Orthodox since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has been a long time since Orthodox Christians have arrived in America but not many Americans have heard about us.
Evangelism’s motive should be out of love, because if it isn’t out of love, it is meaningless, because everything God does is from His love, and if we cease to love, then we have cut ourselves away from God, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and also St. John says, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). So this means our goal would not be to show off how much we know about our faith, but to bring these people to the knowledge of Christ and give them the same hope that we have which is within us.
If one goes to the Orthodox Churches in America, depending on which culture is represented, for example Greek, Russian, Armenian, Syrian, more than likely one will not find anyone except those cultures in that church, so where is the evangelism? It makes it very hard for Americans to convert to Orthodox Christianity when the people in the Church don’t know English and when people come to visit, the laity don’t know how to explain the faith to them, and even worse, might end up explaining the culture to them! But the situation is getting much better, there are two of these cultural churches that have done more evangelism than the rest, these two (as to my knowledge) are the Greeks and the Copts (Egyptians). These two have spread themselves far and wide over the United States of America; others tend to focus themselves only in a couple of states. The cultural aspect has actually become a major problem in America for the youth of these churches, because many of the youth have grown up here while their parents have not. Not only that, but the fact that it is another culture within a country that doesn’t share the same culture, causes us to be bothered by each other and discouraged. Father Bishoy Andrawes, a Coptic Priest, compared this situation to many fish in small fishbowl, he said, “When you put some fish in a container, small container, they grow big, what are they going to do after that? They are going to eat each other. Yeah. They are going to just have nothing to do. They are going to bother each other… I think that is what we do in the Church, we grow fat, and then we start to criticize each other and blame each other, and judge each other. But when you put these fish in the sea… they breed, have a lot of children, they grow healthier because that’s what God wants. When you put them in the sea, in the ocean, they breed, they have lots of fruits.”
Let us remember the Apostles and their work of evangelism. Let us follow their example and bring people to Christ. And may God grant us His wisdom when we are asked about our hope and faith. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
These verses are known as the Great Commission. They record the commandment of our Lord sending us into the world to preach the Gospel. It is the duty of every Christian to tell others about Jesus Christ. Now not all of us might be called to be evangelists or missionaries, but it isn’t only for evangelists or missionaries to TALK ABOUT the Gospel. Evangelists and missionaries are called to PREACH and SPREAD the Gospel, and they have received the Holy Spirit to do so. Others might be called to other forms of service, but we are all told to defend the faith and hope that is in us.
The Church of God is the body of Christ, and St. Paul the Apostle refers to this saying, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?” -1 Corinthians 12:12-19
This whole point is emphasized to show that we all have different forms of service to offer God and the Church. The majority of Protestants today always talk about evangelism, giving it more weight and importance over prayer and other things vital to the Christian life. They teach all to be evangelists, but this isn’t right, because as St. Paul said, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?” and so on. They criticize those who dedicate their lives to prayer by saying that they have cut themselves off from the world and have broken the Lord’s commandment. They forget that it was Moses who raised his hands while Israel fought in the valley, and as long as he had his hands raised Israel prevailed. This is a symbol of the spiritual war we are in as Christians, and how we are one body. Those whom Israel fought in the valley were symbolic of the spiritual powers that fight against us, and those from Israel who fought are symbolic of those who serve in the Church, whether Priests, Deacons, Evangelists, Teachers, etc. Moses was symbolic of those who pray for the service of the Church, and without him raising his hands, Israel was losing. This is symbolic of how we must have both service and prayer, but the service comes because of the prayer, without the prayer, the enemies prevail.
Today, we deal with much more people than any other generation before us dealt with in their lifetime. With all the schools, social networks, and text messaging, we have an opportunity to reach many people around us. But for some reason or another, we, especially the Orthodox don’t share our faith with others, even our best of friends. Why is it that we are not afraid to talk about sex, drugs, music, and gossip, but we are afraid to share our faith? I read in an article, I believe it was attached to the Orthodox Study Bible that said “the Orthodox Church is the best kept secret of America.” Now from certain aspects this is a very good thing, but from another aspect it means most people haven’t heard about us, and that is probably because we don’t share our faith. The Greek Orthodox have been here since the middle of the 19th Century, and there was a Russian Orthodox Saint, St. Herman, who preceded them and preached in Alaska to the indigenous tribes such as the Eskimos, in the 18th Century, while George Washington was still in office as President of the United States of America. St. Herman brought Orthodoxy to this continent, and translated the Bible for the first time to the language of the Native American tribes of Alaska. The Armenian Orthodox have been here since the early 1900s, the Syrian Orthodox since the 1950s, and the Coptic Orthodox since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has been a long time since Orthodox Christians have arrived in America but not many Americans have heard about us.
Evangelism’s motive should be out of love, because if it isn’t out of love, it is meaningless, because everything God does is from His love, and if we cease to love, then we have cut ourselves away from God, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and also St. John says, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). So this means our goal would not be to show off how much we know about our faith, but to bring these people to the knowledge of Christ and give them the same hope that we have which is within us.
If one goes to the Orthodox Churches in America, depending on which culture is represented, for example Greek, Russian, Armenian, Syrian, more than likely one will not find anyone except those cultures in that church, so where is the evangelism? It makes it very hard for Americans to convert to Orthodox Christianity when the people in the Church don’t know English and when people come to visit, the laity don’t know how to explain the faith to them, and even worse, might end up explaining the culture to them! But the situation is getting much better, there are two of these cultural churches that have done more evangelism than the rest, these two (as to my knowledge) are the Greeks and the Copts (Egyptians). These two have spread themselves far and wide over the United States of America; others tend to focus themselves only in a couple of states. The cultural aspect has actually become a major problem in America for the youth of these churches, because many of the youth have grown up here while their parents have not. Not only that, but the fact that it is another culture within a country that doesn’t share the same culture, causes us to be bothered by each other and discouraged. Father Bishoy Andrawes, a Coptic Priest, compared this situation to many fish in small fishbowl, he said, “When you put some fish in a container, small container, they grow big, what are they going to do after that? They are going to eat each other. Yeah. They are going to just have nothing to do. They are going to bother each other… I think that is what we do in the Church, we grow fat, and then we start to criticize each other and blame each other, and judge each other. But when you put these fish in the sea… they breed, have a lot of children, they grow healthier because that’s what God wants. When you put them in the sea, in the ocean, they breed, they have lots of fruits.”
Let us remember the Apostles and their work of evangelism. Let us follow their example and bring people to Christ. And may God grant us His wisdom when we are asked about our hope and faith. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Only One Master
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” -Luke 16:13
These verses being just as relevant, if not more, today than they were to those who preceded us in the faith, just as every verse in the Bible continues to be relevant and has power for us in this generation. There are some people who make a sad attempt today to justify themselves by saying that it was much easier for those who preceded us to follow the words of the Bible than it is for us today. However, when one studies those to whom the Epistles were first written, they can’t make that attempt anymore, because by far, those to whom the Epistles were written were living lives filled with much more indulgence than most people live today. This week I will talk about serving two masters and how that never works.
The word mammon is found in the original Greek Bible but the word isn’t Greek, it is transliterated from the Aramaic word. The interesting thing about this word is that in all ancient translations it is left untranslated, it remains “mammon.” The English translations carried the word down as mammon too. Mammon in Aramaic means “riches” or “wealth.” Now if that is what the word means wouldn’t it have made sense to just translate it into Greek? If the word was untranslated then it means there is a depth in the original word that was not found in the Greek so it was transliterated instead of translated. This depth is expressed in the fact that the word mammon has the idea of trusting in wealth behind it. Which then in essence make us servants to it, and if we are its servants, then it is our master. It doesn’t only mean monetary riches, but all other riches and wealth, and things we build ourselves in other than God. There is more to this word, but for the sake of the length of this article, we can’t go into it.
So how do these verses apply in our lives? They apply very subtly, it’s not as hard as one makes it seem. They can apply if we start making anything more important than God. What is meant by that is if one does more things, and with more enthusiasm and effort for things that do not pertain to the Church, than to the Church itself. Because the Church is the Bride of Christ, Christ is one with the Church. So anything that is done against the Church or not done for the Church is also done against or not done for Christ. Just as it says, “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” -Matthew 25:44-46
The Church teaches us to serve by using whatever talents we have to help the Church and bring glory to God. This means if we are talented at writing, we should use that talent to write for the Church. If we are talented at singing or playing music, let us sing songs of praise to God. Even smaller things, if we are talented at cleaning up, let us clean up the place where the Church assembles. Notice here that the letter C in Church is capitalized. This is because it is in reference to the believers. When I say Church I am meaning what Jesus said in the above verses, that we should help each other. We shouldn’t do things for show in the church where the believers gather, and then in private if someone needs help we refuse it to him as it says continuing Luke 16:13, “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” -Luke 16:14
Our service to God and the Church is us giving from ourselves. We give our time, effort, and talents to edify the Church. We should set aside a specific time for whenever we want to do this, or when our time comes for service, we shouldn’t be distracted. For example if we think that “something better” has come up to do, we ditch our work and come back to it later. We should do everything from the richness of our hearts and we should do it cheerfully as St. Paul the Apostle says, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” -2 Corinthians 9:6
These days we tend to be partial in our service to God, and without enthusiasm, and it is a trend that is rising a lot in the Orthodox Churches. And an interesting note, from all the ethnic Orthodox Churches that I know of, they blame it on their culture. This is an interesting thing, because the problems that they identify are the same, which means it is not related to the one culture. One example I will bring up is a small one which I have seen with two of these ethnicities. The Copts (Egyptians) are usually late to whatever, and then they say, “Oh, Egyptian time means half an hour late.” I was talking to a couple of Ethiopians, and they said, “Ethiopian time is way worse than Egyptian time, it means an hour to an hour and a half late.” These weaknesses get in the way of our spiritual life because this lack of punctuality, if not fixed, will apply on Sunday during the Liturgy. The interesting thing that I would like to point out is that how come in work and school these same people who say they are not punctual are early. With work, after a certain amount of times of arriving late, they will be automatically fired. With school the tardiness will be put into the disciplinary record, and if it continues, it will result in suspension or at worst expulsion. If work is important to us, how much more should our eternal life be?!
Let us think about our priorities and what really matters to us as Joshua said in his final public address, “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” -Joshua 24:14-15
If we struggle, let us pray to God and ask Him to help us in our service. Let us ask Him sincerely and truly with a pure heart and He will grant to us what we ask if we believe. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
These verses being just as relevant, if not more, today than they were to those who preceded us in the faith, just as every verse in the Bible continues to be relevant and has power for us in this generation. There are some people who make a sad attempt today to justify themselves by saying that it was much easier for those who preceded us to follow the words of the Bible than it is for us today. However, when one studies those to whom the Epistles were first written, they can’t make that attempt anymore, because by far, those to whom the Epistles were written were living lives filled with much more indulgence than most people live today. This week I will talk about serving two masters and how that never works.
The word mammon is found in the original Greek Bible but the word isn’t Greek, it is transliterated from the Aramaic word. The interesting thing about this word is that in all ancient translations it is left untranslated, it remains “mammon.” The English translations carried the word down as mammon too. Mammon in Aramaic means “riches” or “wealth.” Now if that is what the word means wouldn’t it have made sense to just translate it into Greek? If the word was untranslated then it means there is a depth in the original word that was not found in the Greek so it was transliterated instead of translated. This depth is expressed in the fact that the word mammon has the idea of trusting in wealth behind it. Which then in essence make us servants to it, and if we are its servants, then it is our master. It doesn’t only mean monetary riches, but all other riches and wealth, and things we build ourselves in other than God. There is more to this word, but for the sake of the length of this article, we can’t go into it.
So how do these verses apply in our lives? They apply very subtly, it’s not as hard as one makes it seem. They can apply if we start making anything more important than God. What is meant by that is if one does more things, and with more enthusiasm and effort for things that do not pertain to the Church, than to the Church itself. Because the Church is the Bride of Christ, Christ is one with the Church. So anything that is done against the Church or not done for the Church is also done against or not done for Christ. Just as it says, “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” -Matthew 25:44-46
The Church teaches us to serve by using whatever talents we have to help the Church and bring glory to God. This means if we are talented at writing, we should use that talent to write for the Church. If we are talented at singing or playing music, let us sing songs of praise to God. Even smaller things, if we are talented at cleaning up, let us clean up the place where the Church assembles. Notice here that the letter C in Church is capitalized. This is because it is in reference to the believers. When I say Church I am meaning what Jesus said in the above verses, that we should help each other. We shouldn’t do things for show in the church where the believers gather, and then in private if someone needs help we refuse it to him as it says continuing Luke 16:13, “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” -Luke 16:14
Our service to God and the Church is us giving from ourselves. We give our time, effort, and talents to edify the Church. We should set aside a specific time for whenever we want to do this, or when our time comes for service, we shouldn’t be distracted. For example if we think that “something better” has come up to do, we ditch our work and come back to it later. We should do everything from the richness of our hearts and we should do it cheerfully as St. Paul the Apostle says, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” -2 Corinthians 9:6
These days we tend to be partial in our service to God, and without enthusiasm, and it is a trend that is rising a lot in the Orthodox Churches. And an interesting note, from all the ethnic Orthodox Churches that I know of, they blame it on their culture. This is an interesting thing, because the problems that they identify are the same, which means it is not related to the one culture. One example I will bring up is a small one which I have seen with two of these ethnicities. The Copts (Egyptians) are usually late to whatever, and then they say, “Oh, Egyptian time means half an hour late.” I was talking to a couple of Ethiopians, and they said, “Ethiopian time is way worse than Egyptian time, it means an hour to an hour and a half late.” These weaknesses get in the way of our spiritual life because this lack of punctuality, if not fixed, will apply on Sunday during the Liturgy. The interesting thing that I would like to point out is that how come in work and school these same people who say they are not punctual are early. With work, after a certain amount of times of arriving late, they will be automatically fired. With school the tardiness will be put into the disciplinary record, and if it continues, it will result in suspension or at worst expulsion. If work is important to us, how much more should our eternal life be?!
Let us think about our priorities and what really matters to us as Joshua said in his final public address, “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” -Joshua 24:14-15
If we struggle, let us pray to God and ask Him to help us in our service. Let us ask Him sincerely and truly with a pure heart and He will grant to us what we ask if we believe. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
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