I hadn’t realized it had been as long as it had since I posted. Hopefully no one was getting worried. The first passage today is from Acts, and is the ultimate resolution of the Council of Jerusalem:
22Â Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabâ²bas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, 23Â with the following letter: âThe brethren, both the apostles and the elders, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Ciliâ²cia, greeting. 24Â Since we have heard that some persons from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25Â it has seemed good to us in assembly to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26Â men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27Â We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28Â For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29Â that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.â
(Acts 15:22-29)
This passage is always a valuable one to keep in mind, as it shows the Apostles and elders of the Church exercising their authority over believers. In this age of everyone believing whatever they want to believe, a sign of order and authority is invaluable.
Next a passage from the Letter of St. James:
19Â Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20Â for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. 21Â Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22Â But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23Â For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; 24Â for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25Â But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.
(James 1:19-25)
Our faith is meant to be a dynamic, living thing. If we are not expressing it in our lives daily, then it is dead. And so are we, once our time upon this world ends.
Finally, a Psalm with a reminder about the importance of humility:
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
    my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
2Â But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a child quieted at its motherâs breast;
    like a child that is quieted is my soul.
3Â O Israel, hope in the Lord
    from this time forth and for evermore.
(Psalm 131)