Category: Memory Verse

“Be children no longer.” –Ephesians 4:14 We Christians are called to be child-like, not childish (1 Cor 14:20). Being childish means being “tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine that originates in human trickery and skill in proposing error” (Eph 4:14). It means being manipulated and enslaved. The way to freedom from childishness is to profess the truth in love (Eph 4:15). The truth will set us free (Jn 8:32) and have us “grow to the full maturity of Christ the Head” (Eph 4:15). We grow up and grow out of childishness by obeying apostles, prophets,...

“May He strengthen you inwardly through the working of His Spirit.” –Ephesians 3:16 When the Holy Spirit came to us in Baptism, Confirmation, and other occasions, we received power (Acts 1:8). In fact, we were clothed from head to toe with power from on high (Lk 24:49). We can move mountains with only a tiny use of our power (Mt 17:20). There is nothing impossible for us in the power of Jesus (Mt 17:20). A problem for Christians is not that we need more power but that we need to open the eyes of our hearts to know “the immeasurable...

“When much has been given a man, much will be required of him. More will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted.” –Luke 12:48 Jesus makes it very clear in today’s Gospel reading that He expects His disciples to continue to bear ever-increasing fruit. “This sort of talk is hard to endure!” (Jn 6:60) Do we, as His disciples, find this divine expectation of “more” and “much” (Lk 12:48) to be “too much” for us? (Mk 6:3) “Does it shake your faith?” (Jn 6:61) Or does Jesus’ challenge prompt you to embrace His expectation of you,...

OUR LORD, OUR GOD! “But now in Christ Jesus…” –Ephesians 2:13 Almost everyone reading One Bread, One Body is a Gentile, that is, not Jewish. In the Bible, we Gentiles were described as: having “no part in Christ” (Eph 2:12), “excluded from the community of Israel” (Eph 2:12), “strangers to the covenant and its promise” (Eph 2:12), and “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). “But now in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:13), we Gentiles: “have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13), have been reconciled to God “in one body through His cross” (Eph...