Death, where is your sting?

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.Mal.3:20

The prophet Malachi foretells the end of time when judgement will come, the wicked being burnt up and the righteous gaining eternal life.

Today I attend the funeral of a friend who has died of cancer. We prayed for his healing. His passing seems a disaster. He had faith in Jesus and the hope of glory. Today's reading from Malachi promises that healing has come for my friend, just not in the order we were asking for.

The hole in the ground is not the end of my friend's story. In fact it is just the beginning, his life to this point only being the title page.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the promise of eternal life for those who fear your name. Lord, I pray for this assurance to be a source of peace for the family grieving today.

Clean Heart Clean Hands

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things.Ps.23:3,4

David defines the man who seeks God and may approach him. A man with clean hands and a pure heart receives reward from God,

Hands can inflict harm, can get dirty. The heart is where the desire for dirt is birthed. King David was a man who knew what it was like to have unclean hands and an impure heart. An adulterer and murderer, David had been as far away from God as it is possible to go. Yet he is described as one after God's own heart.

David's repentance must be a key to this. Repentance cleaned his hands and purified his heart. What dirt is on my hands? What dirt in my heart has led to this? Lust, greed, pride... it's all there. Time for a spring cleaning of my heart. Clean hands will follow...

Forgive me Lord. I am a sinful man.
All you saints in heaven, please pray for me.

Gracious

‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.’Lk.16:8

Jesus is telling a parable about the dishonest steward to his disciples. The craftiness of the steward in winning friends while he could is held as an example of how we can do the same before meeting judgement in eternity.

I think today's Gospel stops one verse too soon and leaves us puzzling. Verse 9 has Jesus saying, " I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings". There is the key to understanding the parable.

When I look at the steward's behavior, it was gracious. He gave relief from debt when it was undeserved and unexpected. This is the point of the parable I believe and why it is held up as a role model for me by Jesus. When I act with such grace towards people now it will be held in my favour in heaven.

Jesus, grace is easy to say but hard to do. It seems so unfair. But Lord, you have been so gracious to me. Help me remember this when I am being called to be gracious to others.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Love Made Visible

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Rms.8:38,39

Saint Paul teaches how believers are more than conquerors, that the all sufficient love of God is with us no matter where we find ourselves, because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

I sung this scripture over my atheist and terminally ill mother. She then opened her eyes and told me she believed. The power of the love of God broke through all her years of unbelief. She died a baptised believer not long afterwards.

Praise be to the love of God made visible through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here is reason enough to enter this day with great joy.

Thank you Jesus for making manifest for me the love of God. I will be a barer of this love and joy today.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

The Narrow Door

‘Sir, will there be only a few saved?’ He said to them, ‘Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.Lk.13:23,2 

Jesus is asked if many will be saved at the end of time. Jesus answers by saying many will be lost.

A popular gospel is one that says the door to heaven is wide open and everyone is going to enter. Jesus disagrees. He says the gate to heaven is narrow and many will not pass through it. This heightens the need to evangelise, starting with myself and my family.

Try your best, Jesus says. The inference is that passively drifting into heaven is not the way to get there. I need to make an effort daily, hourly, right at this moment to enter the narrow door. The alternative is not pretty, weeping and grinding of teeth... forever.

Jesus, sometimes I’m asleep at the wheel, just drifting. Holy Spirit, remind me today that the door to paradise is narrow and requires my best efforts to pass through it.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Remember I'm Human

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rms.7:25

Saint Paul declares the weakness of his humanity. His spirit is willing but his flesh is weak.

A recent scandal in the local Church resulted in a Bishop resigning because of a sexual relationship being made public.  It is said church leaders fall through sexual sin not because they forget they are Christian but because they forget they are human.

All men, including the great Apostle Saint Paul by his own admission, are susceptible to weakness of the flesh in all its permutations. Saint Paul points to the antidote. Remember we are human. The accountability group of men I meet with fortnightly is a big part of my remembering. I must thank them for this today....

Lord Jesus, thank you for my maleness. Help me keep my humanity before me and my sexual integrity beside it.
Saint Augustine, please pray for me.

Division

‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three;
Lk12:51,52

Jesus is telling his disciples there is a cost to following him, that cost being the hatred of the world that can even be experienced within a family.

Jesus warned that the world would hate Christians not that Christians would hate the world. There are places where this warning is obvious, where choosing Christ can cost your life. Even within my own family my Christian faith puts me at arms length from some.

What's my response to this division? Love and prayer. Love of the hater of Christ and prayer for unity.

Jesus, you experienced  hatred to the point of death. Give me compassion to be an agent of unity, especially within my own family.
Little Flower, please pray for me.