Tagged: memory verse

“Be fertile, then, and multiply; abound on earth and subdue it.” –Genesis 9:7; see also Genesis 9:1 The first recorded words from God to humanity are: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gn 1:28). To make sure that humanity got the message, God repeated it two more times (Gn 9:1, 7). Sin then took advantage of humanity’s fertility to transmit a fallen nature to every human being. Likewise, when our fertility seems to multiply our problems, many of us respond with birth control. We reason that less people means less problems for us who already have...

“At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark, and he sent out a raven.” –Genesis 8:6-7 If you are surrounded by the waters of destruction, you can be like the raven Noah sent out from the ark. You can fly back and forth over the waters (see Gn 8:7). However, you’ll only wear yourself out and may get lost. Instead, you can be like the dove Noah sent out. Even if the waters of destruction are still covering everything, you can at least return to the ark (see Gn 8:9). In the...

“Are your minds completely blinded? Have you eyes but no sight?” –Mark 8:17-18 Jesus was appalled at His disciples’ spiritual blindness. They were blinded to the significance of the two multiplications of the loaves and fishes. They were blinded to Who Jesus was. This blindness would eventually lead His disciples to abandon Jesus on Calvary. Spiritual blindness caused Jesus’ death on the cross. It caused the Third Reich, the Holocaust of six million Jews, slavery for centuries, and countless other atrocities. Spiritual blindness causes starvation, racism, the sexual abuse of children, mass murder from abortion, etc. Spiritual blindness is caused...

“Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.” –Genesis 4:4 Both Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord. God accepted Abel and his offering, but He did not look with favor on Cain and his offering. Although we don’t know the details of this event, Scripture does provide us with a clue into what God looks for in a sacrifice. Abel brought to the Lord his “best” (Gn 4:4). Cain simply brought “an offering” (Gn 4:3). The Lord repeatedly emphasizes offering the best we have, without blemish (see Lv 1:10). What we give to...

“Instruct me.” —Psalm 119:33 There are two ways of life, and God has given us freedom to make our own choice. “Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him” (Sir 15:17). Yet He gives us every instruction needed to say “Yes” to God’s way and “No” to Satan’s way. So the Church leads us to pray with the psalmist in today’s psalm response, “Instruct me” (Ps 119:33). We need to beg the Lord for His instruction because we have been entrusted with the power to choose. There is no neutrality in this choice. So it...