Posts Tagged ‘Fasting’
Practice Endurance
Do you have what it takes to be a Christian in the 21st Century? Every news report seems to include stories about moral struggles that are at odds with our Christian way of thinking. It seems like we are quickly returning to a time when the Church will be considered the enemy rather than sin.…
Read MoreModern Pharisees
It has been a problem since before Christ. People who read one part of the Law and demand its exact obedience while ignoring other parts of the Law. The Pharisees were good at it, and many today are quickly adopting their way. Many today look at the Holy Canons like modern pharisees, demanding exact obedience…
Read MoreLoving God
We say we will do anything for the ones we love. History is filled with dramatic love stories, many of which end in tragedy. We don’t mind the tragedy because it represents love. We like to imagine that we would endure tragedy for the ones we love. When push comes to shove, it is true…
Read MoreWatch Your Roots
Whether we are ‘born’ into the Church or come to the Church later in life, one thing remains constant. We must have faith deep enough to hold us up against the battles with Satan and his angels. Our lives are spent on Earth, faced daily with temptations and burdens. Shallow faith is not enough to…
Read MoreFor the Sake of the Elect
It is a common line of thought on this blog that the world is against the Christ and His Church. We often talk about how we are called to endure to the end. We often talk about persecution being a real thing not only in the lives of the martyrs, but in the lives of…
Read MoreCelebrate 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…
Read MoreSpiritual Fasting
I hear it so often I can’t count. “It’s not what goes into the mouth, but what comes out!” Every time I talk about the importance of fasting, this argument is taken like an arrow from its quiver. I wonder if people understood that Christ used this comment in reference to the hypocrites, if they…
Read MorePharisee Christians
Some people think Christians cannot be Pharisees. I think we can. It is very easy to convert obedience into a rule law rather than faith. The Scriptures are filled with examples of Pharisee Jews who looked to the Law as the reason they were saved as the People of God. Church history is also filled…
Read MoreFlesh and Spirit
Many people struggle to understand the spiritual benefits of fasting. Food is blessed by God, so why does the Church ‘punish’ us by not letting us eat? There is so much suffering in the world. It would be nice if food wasn’t the source of our suffering. Fasting is not about suffering. Fasting is about…
Read MoreEpisode 400 – We Have a Job to Do
When Christ invited the first disciples to follow Him, He called them to a job. He called them to become fishers of men, to bring people into the Church. Today we are called by Christ to bring people to Christ. We are not just supposed to bring them into our community, but into Christ. The…
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