Tagged: message of the day

“My God, in You I take refuge.” —Psalm 7:2 When Jeremiah realized people were plotting to kill him, he “prayed” to the Lord: “Let me witness the vengeance You take on them” (Jer 12:20). When Jesus was plotted against by His enemies and crucified, He also prayed while hanging on the cross: “Father forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). Unlike Jeremiah, Jesus did not seek His enemies’ death but their salvation. He loved His enemies so much that He offered Himself in sacrifice and gave them the opportunity for eternal life with Him. When...

“Let Me alone, then, that My wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.” —Exodus 32:10 The Lord offered Moses the opportunity to start all over without the bothersome people who fashioned a golden calf and worshiped it. Moses, however, prefigured Jesus and asked God to forgive them and love them. We all are tempted to be discontent with the people the Lord has put into our lives to love. We wish our spouses were perfect, our children were angels, and our parents were sinless. We sigh: “If only my...

Jesus “was speaking of God as His own Father, thereby making Himself God’s equal.” —John 5:18 “The reason why” the religious leaders of Jesus’ time were “determined to kill [Jesus] was that He not only was breaking the sabbath but, worse still, was speaking of God as His own Father, thereby making Himself equal to God” (Jn 5:18). Jesus could have possibly spared His life had He simply told the religious authorities that He wasn’t really God, that people were misinterpreting His claims. However, Jesus made it more clear that He was God, and meant to claim that He was...

“Remember, now, you have been cured. Give up your sins so that something worse may not overtake you.” —John 5:14 There is something much worse than being sick for thirty-eight years (see Jn 5:5). There is something much worse than Job’s sufferings of going bankrupt, suffering the tragic deaths of his ten children, and becoming seriously ill (Jb 1:13ff). There is something much worse than the greatest of calamities. The worst thing that can happen to a human being is the second death (Rv 2:11), hell, which is everlasting damnation and alienation from God. However, the Lord wants all to...

“There shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create.” —Isaiah 65:18 If the Lord creates a calling for you, you can find joy in it. If He calls you to life-long celibacy, you have cause for rejoicing. If the Lord gives you and your spouse ten children, rejoice in the sacrifice of having a large family. When He calls us to repent, we share in the great joy of heaven over one sinner who repents (Lk 15:7). When the Lord gives us the privilege of being persecuted for the Gospel, we should rejoice in the measure we share...