Posts Tagged ‘sin’
What is Perfection?
Are you a perfectionist? For some people, the idea of making a mistake or falling short of reaching a goal can be crippling. Whether it is at school, work or even at home, being a perfectionist is rarely a trait that inspires others to join us. What about Church? Timothy, my son, the saying is…
Read MoreGod Knows You
Three words that can either terrify you or comfort you. When we are told “God knows you” we often turn our minds to guilt and sin. While we may indeed be guilty of sin, there is something much better in these three words. God has known us since creation, and He is waiting for us.…
Read MoreWhitewashed Souls
You already know how it feels. You spend the day working. It could be in the garden or in the fields at work. You know how it feels to ‘get dirty’ after a long day’s work. You also know the feeling of the dirty washing off and stepping out of the shower, clean and ready…
Read MoreCommon Life
In every Divine Liturgy we proclaim our common life in Christ when we pray, “Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.” We do not commend our unison lives to Christ. We commend our life, singular, to Christ. That should mean something. Brethren, let any one who thinks…
Read MoreDon’t Allow Yourself to be Tripped Up
I was once taught the first step to any sin is to believe I would always be able to ‘say no’ to temptation. Instead of counting on my willpower, I was taught to do whatever I could to set up protections against temptation. That way I would increase my chances of avoiding sin. Brethren, God…
Read MoreRemain or Repent; Which is it?
It has become popular to use the expression, “God made me who I am,” as an excuse toward all sorts of behaviors the Church teaches against. “God doesn’t make mistakes,” is another excuse. I say excuse, because we never want to remain how we are if we don’t like who we are. Brethren, in whatever…
Read MoreMind Your Business
We all like to think we are successful Christians. We all like to think we ‘know what we’re doing’ when it comes to how to live our Orthodox Christian Faith. If that weren’t bad enough, we all also like to think we ‘know better’ than other people how to be ‘good’ Orthodox Christians. The sad…
Read MoreEpisode 431 – United in Faith for the Forgiveness of Sins
When Christ saw the faith of the friends of the paralytic, He said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” Christ didn’t heal the man until He wanted to show His power to forgive sins. When we are united in the faith of Christ, our sins can be forgiven by God. When we pray each…
Read MoreThe Forces of Evil
I can’t tell you how often I hear people admit they do not believe in demons. Many do not believe there are ‘forces out there’ constantly trying to trip us up. The forces of evil are real. They exist, and they have been fighting against the Church since Adam and Eve. Brethren, we know that…
Read MoreBeware of Judgment
As Christians we know we are not supposed to judge others. We quote to each other all the time. “Judge not, lest you be judged,” (Matthew 7.1) but judgment does much deeper. When we judge others, not only will we be judged, we are already judging ourselves. Brethren, since the ungodly did not see fit…
Read More