⌂ Home 👤 1 matthew ⚙ Help Press ? for keyboard shortcuts. Meditation from DYNAMIS, Ten Commandments for Disciples, 1-22-15, Thursday of the 33rd Week APe Social Dynamis [email protected] [orthodoxdynamis] To Daily Dynamis list Meditations on Scripture Today at 4:43 PM Saint James 4:7-5:9 Epistle for Thursday of the Thirty-third Week after Pentecost 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. 11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. 1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. 7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! January 22, 2015, The Holy Apostle Timothy Thursday of the Thirty-third Week after Pentecost Ten Commandments for Disciples: James 4:7-5:9, especially vs. 17: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Our life in Christ never conflicts with the Ten Commandments given by God to His people in ancient times (see Dt 5:7-21; Ex 20:1-17). At the same time, our life in Christ differs from existence under the Law of Moses, for the Lord requires us to do good not out of obedience alone, but from our hearts. In today’s verses, Saint James enumerates ten commandments for Christ’s disciples, showing us how the impetus “to do good” (vs. 4:17) flowers from a pure heart. 1. Submit to God (vs. 4:7): The Lord teaches us that “God is Spirit” (Jn 4:24). To submit to God requires surrendering the spiritual aspect of our being to Him, so that we may be united with God “in spirit and truth.” This spiritual aspect is called the heart, which must be the basis of all true discipleship. 2. Resist the devil (vs. 4:7): The mystery of baptism begins with an exorcism, which expels every spirit “which operateth through the prompting of the devil.” Such foul spirits must be driven from our hearts during this life, so that we continue to “renounce Satan, and all his angels, and all his works, and all his service, and all his pride.” 3. Draw near to God (vs. 4:8): Having received baptism and chrismation, we strive to draw steadily nearer to God. Christ’s grace acts in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. 4. Cleanse your hands (vs. 4:8): Our actions and words can sully our hands and corrupt our hearts. For this reason we must invest constant effort in ending all sinful activity. 5. Purify your hearts (vs. 4:8): The central concern of every Christian should be the condition of our heart. Our life’s work is to purify our hearts of every impure desire that invites improper actions. 6. Let your laughter be turned to mourning (vs. 4:9): Christ teaches, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mt 5:4). Godly mourners grieve for their own sins, and for others caught by Satan’s lies. They turn naturally to repentance, which is essential to the life in Christ. Saint James commands us to “weep and howl” (Jas 5:1). 7. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord (vs. 4:10): Humility accords with our Lord’s command to open the pitiful condition of our hearts before Him. At the same time, we anoint our head, wash our face, and refuse the appearance of false piety. 8. Do not speak evil of one another (vs. 4:11): Having already warned us of the dangers of an unruly tongue (vss. 1:18; 3:1-12), Saint James instructs us specifically, “Do not grumble against one another” (vs. 5:9). 9. Live humbly in the will of God: We are to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (vs. 4:15). Our life in Christ is one of quiet, heartfelt acceptance of God’s providence and grace. We attribute everything that befalls us as coming from the Lord. Whether God is the cause or allows something to happen for our correction, we accept it as a blessing. 10. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand (vs. 5:8). Saint James ends as he begins – by directing us to the condition of our hearts. We are to cultivate patience and thus be well-established in Christ: “Wait on the Lord, be thou manful, and let thy heart be strengthened, and wait on the Lord” (Ps 26:16). Turn Thy face away from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. – Psalm 50:9-10
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 01:44:11 +0000
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