Tagged: daily bread

MIXED MARRIAGES

“In my wretchedness, and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees.” –Ezra 9:5 Ezra was wretched, ashamed, confounded, and heaped with guilt (Ezr 9:5-6). He was so distraught because of mixed marriages. Many Jewish people had married Gentiles (see Ezr 9:2). In our society, where men are even trying to “marry” men and women trying to “marry” women, we find it hard to relate to Ezra’s anguish. However, in the new covenant, we have even more reason to be concerned about mixed marriages. In the old covenant, when Jews married Gentiles, they married those who were not...

DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

“Let the governor and the elders of the Jews continue to work on that house of God; they are to rebuild it on its former site.” –Ezra 6:7 The Israelites rebuilt the Temple with the support of government taxes and the prophetic messages of Haggai and Zechariah. That is an unusual combination. Governments and prophets don’t usually mix. However, the Lord can do anything and use anyone at any time for His glory. The Israelites never dreamed a Persian king would be used to rebuild the Temple. We never dreamed the Lord would transform Eastern Europe and Russia as He...

I’D LOVE TO…

“As He moved on, Jesus saw a man named Matthew at his post where taxes were collected. He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ ” –Matthew 9:9 We hear the Lord knocking on the door and calling us by name (Rv 3:20). We sense something inside drawing us to Jesus. He still is calling today’s “Matthews” to follow Him. Nevertheless, we are afraid to say “Yes.” We’re afraid of what people will think. It has never been popular to follow Jesus. To be His disciple means becoming a fool in the eyes of the world (1 Cor 4:10). We are afraid...

MAKING AND BEING THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men who will put Him to death.” –Mark 9:31 The Lord’s favorite subject is the cross. However, we naturally don’t understand His message of the cross (Mk 9:32). Moreover, we are afraid of the cross (Mk 9:32). Therefore, we don’t want to understand Jesus regarding the cross. We will not even question Him about it (Mk 9:32) but merely talk about something else – like ourselves. However, Jesus will question us if we won’t question Him. He’ll ask us: “What were you discussing?” (Mk 9:33) We may...

OBEDIENCE SCHOOL

“I charge you to keep God’s command without blame or reproach.” –1 Timothy 6:14 The Lord charges us to obey Him. Pastors tell parishioners to obey the Lord. Parents command their children to obey. Christians who love each other charge each other to obey the Lord (see Jn 15:10). However, we are naturally inclined to disobey, “do our own thing,” and not listen to others, even to God Himself. By the Lord’s death and our Baptism into His death (Rm 6:3), we have been given a new nature – one that is not fallen and not tending toward disobedience. However,...