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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

To Walk in God’s Sight

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: I humbly pray you so to guide and govern me by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of my life I may not forget you, but may remember that I am ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mason Barge 2/2018

Praise

O  thou who coverest thy high places with the waters,
Who settest the sand as a bound to the sea
And dost uphold all things:
The sun sings thy praises,
The moon gives thee glory,
Every creature offers a hymn to thee,
His author and creator, for ever.

Old Eastern Orthodox chant

Dedication to Service

Now, oh heavenly Father, I ask to be called as a witness to your love by the love I extend to others; a precursor of your justice by my unfailing commitment to what is right and good; a lamp set on a hill, reflecting the light of Christ in my forgiveness, mercy and compassion; and a harvester of souls through my humble and dedicated servanthood. In Jesus’ name, I pray,

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Psalm 51:15-17 (NKJV)

1 Corinthians 15:29-34 (ESV)

The Resurrection of the Dead [3]

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Notes on the Scripture

If asked, most people would not be able to guess the origin the phrase “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Shakespeare? The gladiators? It actually comes from the Old Testament; it appears repeatedly in both Isaiah (e.g. Isaiah 22:13) and Ecclesiastes (e.g. Ecclesiastes 8:15).

he phrase is always fatalistic. Taken at face value, it sounds like the espirit of soldiers about to go into battle, who intend to enjoy themselves before they die. But the phrase is never used as such in the Bible. In Isaiah, it is used to describe those who will die in battle for their sins. In the more poetic Ecclesiastes, it is part of the rich and beautiful poem about the vanity of earthly existence. And here, Paul uses it as an attitude that the Christian has outgrown, which has been rendered foolish by the resurrection of Christ.

For, tomorrow we do not die. Or more accurately, we may appear to die, but we die in the expectation of resurrection. To sum up this passage: If we do not believe in the resurrection of Christ and, thus, our own resurrection through His power, why bother with Christianity? And if you do believe in Christ, the phrase “eat, drink, and be merry” — which implies sinful gluttony because there will be no consequence, since one is about to perish — no longer makes sense.

Once our eyes are opened to the truth, we naturally want to stop our sinful conduct. And as he has said before, one of the components to our own salvation is to avoid those who will pull us into sin with their ignorant, self-indulgent conduct.

Daily Inspiration

“The Fulfillment of the Law”

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