Accept Suffering

It goes against our nature, it seems, to accept the reality that we are called to suffer. From an early age we fight against our parents when they use the unwanted ‘no’ in response to our requests. Even as adults we have tantrums when we do not get our way, at work and among our…

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The Best Resolution

A text that says New Years Resolutions on a notebook

Today and tomorrow are traditionally the days during which we make our annual New Year Resolutions. We want to be better than we are, despite how good we may think we are already. This tradition gives us the opportunity to, privately at least, admit that we could, and need to be, better. Timothy, my son,…

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Guard and Protect Your Soul

We spend a great deal of time making sure our investments and financial security are protected. We have locks on our doors and passwords on our devices. We will stop at almost nothing to protect our money. We do the same for our families and friends. It seems the only thing we do not protect…

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Predestination

Candles lighting

What if I were to tell you I believed in predestination? Would you call me a heretic? Would you say I have abandoned the ancient faith? Maybe you would say I finally fell over the sola scriptura cliff. Of course, none of these accusations would be true. The truth would be that we are required…

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Celebrate Properly

The entire Orthodox World (those on the New Calendar) celebrated yesterday. If you went to celebrate the end of the fast, you celebrated the wrong thing. We say we celebrated the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, which we did. Today is a fast day since it is Wednesday. If you awoke this morning…

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Is Your Faith an Inspiration to Others?

Christmas is drawing near and ‘all attention’ is on Christians. People want to see how we behave. They don’t care so much what we say if it doesn’t match how we behave. Do we go through each day preoccupied with pleasure rather than focusing on divine discipline? We say we are Christians. When people see…

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