Bible
Study: Ephesians 4, 43 to 5, 8 and Luke 13, 10 to 17.
Dear
brothers and sisters in the Lord, today, St. Paul reveals to us the essence of
letting our light shine as Children of God.
1. Be kind
to one another and tender-hearted.
2. Forgive
one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
3. Be
imitators of God, as beloved children.
4. Shun
fornication and impurity of any kind. Avoid obscene, silly, and vulgar talk.
5. Live a
life of thanksgiving. That is, be grateful always.
And the
key to walking as a child of light is first realizing who you are. You are not
just anybody. The fact that you are reading or listening to this message right
now already marks you out from the rest of the world. You are special, you are
a child of Abraham. Satan has no right to hold you in captivity or in the
bondage of sin.
In the
Gospel passage, Jesus was in a synagogue on a Sabbath day and there was this
woman who was completely bent over and she could not stand or walk upright. She
had been under this bondage for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he
immediately reached out to her, laid his hands on her and cured her. Jesus
cured her not simply to prove he could disobey the Sabbath law but because of
who she was: a daughter of Abraham!
Are you
bent over spiritually because of your sins? As a child of Abraham, is Satan
still holding you captive preventing you from letting your light shine? Does
immorality reign in your life? It is time to get close to Jesus today to free
you from bondage.
This woman
was in this condition for 18years even though she was always going to the
Synagogue. Some of us have been Christians for more than 18years yet we are
still bent over. It doesn’t matter how many times you go to Church, what
matters is that you are free from the captivity of sinfulness and your light
actually shines!
The Pharisees
represent a category of people who will never see anything good in anything
that happens to you. Their minds are so filled with darkness that they always
point out errors in everything. If you are failing, they say you lack sense, and
if you finally succeed, they say you cheated. Negative minded persons are never
grateful nor truly happy in life. Note that one of the criteria St. Paul
mentions in our first reading this morning is that our lives must be pervaded
by Thanksgiving.
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, release me from captivity of any sort preventing my light from shining. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy new
week.
Fr. Abu
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