Nick & Alina

I’m not sure what your relationship is like with the Holy Spirit. Too often he gets overlooked when it comes to a relationship because he’s - well - a little extraordinary. But let me just say, if you haven’t reached out and really tried encountering the third part of our Triune God, DO IT! Now, if my shameless plug for the Holy Spirit didn’t work for ya, maybe bribing you with gifts will. The Holy Spirit has GIFTS!! And He wants to drown you in them…

Whether we like it or not, we are all being held up on a pedestal by someone. Maybe it’s your parents, or your kids, maybe your spouse, or your students or congregation. Somewhere, someone is watching you because they look up to you! Obviously, we aren’t going to be perfect and we’ll all teeter on the pedestal at some point… But the moment we give into selfishness and give up being who we’re meant to be, those are the crucial moments when we need to course correct. Because you could be impacting other souls around you.

The verses for today go with the same theme from our last Daily Word about being steadfast during times of trial. The psalmist is clearly at a low point in his life. Weary with sorrow, laid low in the dust. I’m sure we can all relate to this. But, as with all things in the Christian faith, the light must prevail…

The people in history we admire most are the people who pushed these voices aside and struggled on. They were ordinary people like you or me. The only difference is they found a cause, an inspiration and clung to it wholeheartedly.

Here we see a young man, Ephraim (who represents the 10 tribes of Israel, but we won’t get into that today). He struggled with a rebellious spirit against the Lord. This actually reminds me of some of the greatest Saints we know. Like St. Augustine.

If you look at life as a graph, you would see various degrees of high and low points. It would go up and down, some highs lasting longer, some lows lasting longer, and then middle ranges in between. Every choice we make impacts our future selves. Especially the choices we make during the low points. They can either liberate us. Or limit us. 

God delights in you! Yes, you. With all your imperfections, he delights in you. Of course , God does not delight in the brokenness and pain that leads to, and comes out of, any of our sinful actions. He adores what is the pinnacle of his creation… US.

Christianity can oftentimes be presented as a “fire and brimstone” religion. “Be perfect or you’re bound for hell!!” While God does call us to OVERCOME the evil within us through choosing what’s good and just and right, when the faith is portrayed in such a black and white fashion we forego the other aspect of our God.

We wake up in the morning, feed the crew, get the kids off to school, drive to work, grind, grind grind, come home and do it all again… It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day, because the day to day is tangible and so very demanding. But I assure you, it gets old real fast if you aren’t remembering the truth of our reality. 

For 2000 years the Church has held to the apostle’s teachings and has protected Christianity from heresies that would have wrecked the church as soon as Christ ascended. It is because faithful Christians have held to the traditions taught to them by the apostles and their successors that we see the Church alive and well today. Before the Bible was compiled, it was oral tradition and the early church fathers who led the faithful.

If you memorize any scripture, this would be the one. Frame it, put it on your bathroom mirror, in your car, on your computer at work. These are the guidelines to a peaceful and joyful life that will leave the world a better place when we’re gone. 

Everyone thinks they’re the cat’s pajamas compared to that ONE person they just can’t stand. I’ve noticed though, that the things that people do that drive us crazy are oftentimes the things WE do without even noticing. Life is not an easy thing for any of us.

This is a passage misconstrued frequently to defend anti-catholic ideas, such as the saints and Mary being “mediators” for us. Firstly, the saints and mary are not referred to as mediators, but rather as intercessors. The definition of a mediator is someone who is "acting through" while intercession is “acting on behalf of someone.” God is acting THROUGH Jesus on our behalf, while the saints and Mary are simply ASKING on our behalf, which is exactly what happens when we ask our parents or friends to pray for us. We are not asking them to be mediators between us and God.

To accept Christ and live your life with him as your savior, you have to first know that you need saving. Are we willing to admit we need saving? Or are we living in arrogance as though we don’t need a savior? 

Paul was once a bad dude named Saul.  He persecuted Christians and did all manner of terrible things against the followers of Jesus. Until one day, God saw fit to knock him off his high horse, blinded him temporarily, and changed his name to Paul. He became a great leader of the Church and most of the New Testament is written by him. A lot of great saints started off this way. The greatest sinners usually end up (through the mercy and grace of God), being some of the greatest saints! 

GK Chesterton had some insight about humility that has become more relevant today than he probably ever could’ve anticipated. He explains that humility has “moved from an organ of ambition and settled upon the organ of conviction, where it was never meant to be.” To explain it further, a person is supposed to be “doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth.” But this is the crazy part, Chesterton says “ We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.”

We are all made in the image and likeness of God. And therefore equal to each other. As Christians, treating our fellow Christians like our brothers and sisters should be a top priority. But too often we see Christians tearing each other down, hurting each other, gossiping and holding onto grudges.

Something I’m constantly being convicted on is perseverance and steadfastness. After having my babies, I struggled through some postpartum depression. Add to that the natural challenges of having multiple children under 4 years of age, and it was a recipe for disaster. If it weren’t for Nick’s perseverance and steadiness, I don’t know how I would’ve endured. But I did! And looking back, I can see how it strengthened me, though in the moment I could have let it destroy me.

Jesus is ushering the Pharisees and Scribes into welcoming what was to come. A new covenant was coming. The Messiah was in their midst. And they wanted nothing to do with him. Jesus sees this and says, “no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,

for he says, 'The old is good.'" The Pharisees were set in their ways and determined to take anyone down that stood against them.

We are called to grow. We are called to be fruitful Christians. The moment we become complacent is the moment we start losing ground. It’s doesn’t say to “Stand in a worthy manner,” it says to “walk in a worthy manner.” Nothing is ever stagnant in this life. Paul refers to life as a race. Timothy takes it a step further and sees it as a fight. We must constantly be vigilant, moving, training ourselves in the knowledge of our faith so that we are effective in a world that needs very real and alive representatives of Christ.

This passage is kind of amusing to me. I mean, I’m sure that there’s some element of things getting lost in the translation here, but it’s just funny to me how Jesus heals her of this severe fever, and then she “waited on them.”

If you can imagine, this was written by David, a great King of the Old Testament. He’s sitting in his tent on the eve of battle. It’s the still before the storm and he knows tomorrow will bring bloodshed and possibly even death for himself. But He turns to God in this moment and reminds himself that God is with Him. Even unto death.

Several years ago while leading worship for a week long summer camp in Georgia, I had the amazing experience of sharing a log cabin with two Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. While I thought I was there to lead teens closer to Christ, God had plans for my own growth through the time I would spend with these two amazing men. What struck me most about them was their complete and peaceful surrender to God’s will and providence. Whatever came their way, they trusted that God was in it and they just peacefully rolled with it. This was a pretty stark contrast to the way I realized I’d been living my life.

This is a really contentious reality among believers today. But the truth of the matter, again, based on this passage and many many other passages like it, is that God doesn’t just want us to believe in him. I mean, even the demons in Hell believe in God. In other words… get ready for it… “faith alone” is not enough. God wants our belief in him to transform us.

This is the body of Christ working well - working out of love and out of selflessness and concern for each other! Paul and the other leaders had planted a church in Thessalonica and they were anxious that perhaps the hardships of persecution had caused them to give up faith. So they sent Timmy to check in on them and hear back that the Thessalonians have actually succeeded in keeping a strong community of faith and love! Paul is clearly overjoyed and relieved by this news. You can feel the deep concern and love in his letter to the people.

Yikes! Jesus is throwing shade at the scribes and pharisees! While Jesus was a wise teacher, a lover of peace, a supernatural healer, and well, God, there are a number of occasions in which he lays the smack-down of truth on people. This is definitely one of them. At face value it might not seem like there is much to be gained here for you and me 2,000 years later. But… there just might be a profoundly important message here for all of us.

If you struggle with self-worth or anxiety (which would probably be most of us to some extent), these are the verses worth hanging up on your bathroom mirror. Put on these truths before facing the world today. Society is telling us constantly that we’re not enough.

It’s taboo to talk about sin for a lot of reasons. Most people (like myself) don’t like to be told what to do. All the more so, nobody likes to be told that something they are actively doing or have done in the past or want to do in the future, is “wrong.” Sin is an uncomfortable topic and sometimes it can feel easier to just pretend there is no such thing as “sin.” In my opinion, this is largely based on a skewed perception of what sin really is.

After I began my relationship with Jesus in college, everything in my life wasn’t magically fixed, however, I knew for once I was not alone. I spent a lot of those nights at the foot of the cross at St. Tom’s, the parish at BGSU, and even though I was struggling, I knew I had someone holding me up.