Tagged: memory verse

“The result is that the last state of the man is worse than the first.” –Luke 11:26 The worst state possible for a human being is not being an atheist in the grip of the devil but being a fallen-away Christian, a backslider, a lukewarm believer. Jesus prefers that a person be an atheist rather than a lukewarm Christian (see Rv 3:15). Lukewarmness nauseates Jesus (Rv 3:16). “When men have fled a polluted world by recognizing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are caught up and overcome in pollution once more, their last condition is worse than their...

“Lord, teach us to pray.” –Luke 11:1 Do you have a lot to learn about prayer? Do you want to learn to pray more deeply? How much time and energy are you willing to spend in learning to pray better? If we love the Lord, we should want to learn to pray better, for prayer is communicating with the One Who is the Love of our lives (see 1 Jn 4:16). However, many Christians don’t pray very much and neglect to take any practical means to learn to pray. This usually indicates a lack of love for the Lord. Love...

“I went to extremes.” —Galatians 1:13 Paul “went to extremes in persecuting the Church of God and tried to destroy it” (Gal 1:13). He had an “excess of zeal” (Gal 1:14), which means he was extremely extreme. He described himself “as an extreme case” (1 Tm 1:16). Paul was an extremist. Many of you reading this are also extremists. You may tend to go to extremes in eating, working, buying, worrying, fearing, drinking, watching TV or staring at your handheld electronic device. Although the current direction of your extremism may be a curse, it can become a blessing. If, like...

“A Samaritan who was journeying along came on him…” –Luke 10:33 In today’s first reading, St. Paul allows no compromise with the Gospel that he preached to the new Christians in Galatia. The pure, complete Gospel must be presented. No compromise is allowed; the gospel of Christ cannot be “watered down” in any way. Otherwise, that person deserves a curse; Paul even repeats it twice for emphasis (Gal 1:8-9). Yet, in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus presents two people who are pure doctrinally and one man who is not. The hero of Jesus’ parable is the one who is doctrinally impure,...