13 Jul Sheep Among Wolves (Matt 10:16-18) by Rosemary Bernth
Welcome God now with this LIFE Group Devotion (FB), provided by LIFE Runners (FB). Leaders. Guest Authors. LIFE Minute radio.
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.”~ Matt 10:16-18 (full readings)
Rosemary’s Reflections: Is Jesus really serious? Are we really going to be thrown out into a society where being known as a Christian can get you ostricised, or worse, even killed? Yes, because how else are we to fix a broken world if we aren’t living among it. Did we really expect to live an easy life when our Lord was whipped and beaten before being nailed to a cross? If we are to be true followers of the Cross, we cannot let the opinions of others dissuade us. Right now, our government seems to be mocking the Christian values it was once built upon–that our Creator endowed upon us the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We used to be “one nation under God,” but now we can’t even sing “God Bless the USA” in school for offending someone. If Jesus sent us out to be witnesses to the faith, we cannot be afraid of the glares we may get for blessing our food in a public restaurant. We cannot let the list of dwindling Facebook friends break our spirits. We as Christians need to stand together for if we are divided, we are easy prey for the wolves.
* Rosemary Bernth (LIFE Runner) was a journalist for the Diocese of Sioux City’s newspaper and is now a writing/travel graduate student at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, Priests for Life, Vatican, Project Rachel.
Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion. LIFE Runners Creed. Add Prayers. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now.
Feast Day: St. Henry
Faith Quote: “We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials.” ~St. Teresa of Avila
* Pray/Fast: Prayer connects us with God’s will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. Fast from things that take your eyes off Jesus. Those who pray together stay together, and close to God!
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion (images) is #1 death cause (22% pregnancies). Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa.
* Evangelize: Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/spassage/?searchacrifice/mercy). Mt 28:19.