Ordinary Time: Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Old Testament Lesson

Genesis 9:18-29

One of the great things that the Bible reminds us is that no one is perfect. Even the people that are faithful and righteous and are the "saints" of the Bible make mistakes. Noah gets off the ark, is thankful for surviving, is thankful to God, worships God, has God make a covenant with him. And the he grows a vineyard, makes some wine, and gets drunk.

This is not to defend his action. This is not to defend our sin. This is, however, the show that even the most holy make mistakes. No one is perfect. We will all fall down. We will all makes mistakes. We will all trip.

The question then becomes, what will we do after we fall down? What will we do after we make a mistake? I remember reading in CS Lewis once something to affect of "The shame is not in the falling down, the shame is not in the getting back up." Today, if we fall, may we have the grace to get back up.

New Testament Lesson

Hebrews 6:1-12

But Hebrews gives us a stern warning this morning. Let's not go looking for trouble. Let's not go looking for sin. Let's remember the real damage that sin can cause to us and to those that we love. It is a terrible and destructive thing. The reason why God wants us to stay so far away from sin is because He knows what it will do to us. Today. let's not go looking for it.

Gospel Lesson

John 3:22-36

And we see in the John the great correlation between love and obedience. If we love Him, we will want to obey Him. If we love Him, we will want to follow Him. If we love Him, we will want to be faithful to Him. Obedience doesn't save us. It doesn't make us "better people." It simply shows that we love Him and desire to follow Him.

Today, let us love Him with all that we have, and let us follow and obey Him where ever His grace may lead.