Archive for April 2024
Evil is not worth the gain
Just look around and you will find those who choose not to live according to God’s desire. People are greedy, hungry for power, oppressive to others, even violent. It seems like ‘they’ are the ones who are rewarded with comfort and advancement in the world but their gains are short-lived. He who is steadfast in…
Read MoreEpisode 422 – The Cross Leads to Life
During Great Lent we are not simply following rules. We are learning to deny ourselves. We are learning to take up our Cross. We are learning how to follow Christ. If we spend life focusing on ourselves, we will never take up the struggle of our cross. The Church focuses on the Cross so that…
Read MoreThe Cross: A Sign of Victory Rather than Defeat
High above our Church stands a cross for all passersby to see. The cross, a long-time symbol of our Christian Faith, is held high in honor of the victory that Christ accomplishes in our lives every day. “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”…
Read MoreHalf-Way Evaluation
Today is the half-way point of Great Lent. You now realize the days go by quickly when you’re focusing on Christ. You also realize that Pascha will be here ‘before you know it,’ and you still have work to do. It’s time for evaluation. Let’s review what the Church has asked us to focus on…
Read MoreForty Days
All week we have been reading about Noah and Flood. Today the story comes to an end with another Promise from God. After coming to rest on top of a mountain, Noah opened the Ark. Nothing was the same except one thing. After proving his faith in God, Noah worshiped God. And in the seventh…
Read MoreWaters from Heaven
We all learn as children that water is crucial to life. Our bodies are mostly water. Without water nothing lives. We also learn from the many storms that rage that water can also bring total destruction. We should not be surprised when God uses water to save us. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s…
Read MoreDependence on God
There was an expression I heard often when I was young. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” I don’t hear that much anymore, but it still rings true in the life of the Church. When life gets difficult, people of faith get going to Church and God, and blessings flow. Today the…
Read MoreThe Power of Discernment
Life is a series of choices. Some choices are more benign like what shall I eat for dinner tonight. Other choices are more consequential like whom I shall marry. Every choice, big or small, requires a certain level of discernment. Make the wrong choice and life turns upside down. And now, my sons, listen to…
Read MoreThe Power of Repentance
I keep writing that Great Lent is not about following the rules, but about changing our hearts. Fasting from food is how we learn to control our desires, but it all begins with repentance. When we decide to change, then we put into action life choices that change our hearts. But the LORD of hosts,…
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