Post-feast of the Ascension; The Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher and those with him (Second century)
Read
Acts 20:7-12; John 14:10-21
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Do you believe that we can do the works that our Lord did? It’s true! It is because our Lord ascended to the Father that His disciples, that’s us, will be able to do even greater works than He did. Miracles—such as healing of mind, body, and soul, the transformation of those who do not believe, the conversion of the nations! This is awesome!
Such a life of doing miracles and converting the nations to the Lord assumes that we live in obedience and keep His commandments. I think most of us think of the one command, “Love one another” (John 13:34), and try our best to live that out. However, our Lord refers to the plural—commandments. Fr. Lawrence Farley points out some of the other commandments:
- Necessity of reconciliation (Matthew 5:23f)
- Honesty of heart (Matthew 5:33f)
- Non-retaliation (Matthew 5:38f)
- Performing pious work for God’s sake and not for public approval (Matthew 6:1f)
- Forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15)
Keeping the commandments of the Lord is the way of love!
Let’s renew our minds and our hearts today in keeping the commandments of the Lord, and watch how the Lord will use us for miracles and conversion!
mw