The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 355: The Things of This World (2024)
Fri, 20 Dec 2024
Fr. Mike reminds us that, unlike Adam and Eve who gave into "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," we are called to surrender our hearts and minds to the Lord and reject the things of this world. Today's readings are 1 John 1-3; 2 Thessalonians 1-3; Proverbs 30:20-23. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 355. We're beginning the first letter of St. John, chapters 1, 2, and 3, as well as concluding... Actually, it's the entirety of St. Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians. That's three chapters as well.
Chapters one, two, and three. That's the whole thing. And we're also reading Proverbs chapter 30, verses 20 through 23. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in your reading plan, Last minute, get them while they're hot.
You can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast if you'd like, and you'll receive daily episodes and daily updates for the last, I don't know, 10 or 11 days we got going on here. It is day 355. We're reading 1 John chapters 1 through 3, 2 Thessalonians chapters 1, 2, and 3. Same thing, as well as Proverbs chapter 30 verses 20 through 23.
The first letter of John, chapter 1, the word of life. that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we saw it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and was made manifest to us.
That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing this, that our joy may be complete. God is light. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Chapter 2 Christ is Our Advocate My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him, but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him.
He who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. A New Commandment Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard.
Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling.
But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. Warning against the Antichrist. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come.
Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know.
I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life. I write this to you about those who would deceive you. But the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.
As his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right is born of him.
Chapter 3 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Anyone who abides in him does not sin. Anyone who sins has not seen him, nor has he known him. Little children, let no one deceive you.
He who does right is righteous as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Anyone born of God does not commit sin, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
By this it may be seen who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother. Love one another. For this is the message which we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him?
Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us love not in word or speech, but in deed and in truth.
By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us."
by the spirit which he has given us. The second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter one, Salutation.
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Therefore, we ourselves boast of you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring. The judgment at Christ's coming. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering.
Since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
they shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed
To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call and may fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 2. The Man of Lawlessness
Now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word or by letter purporting to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.
For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you this?
And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.
The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion to make them believe what is false so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Chosen for Salvation but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.
Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Chapter three, request for prayer.
Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph as it did among you and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men for not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you and guard you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing and will do the things which we command.
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Warning against idleness. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you.
We did not eat anyone's bread without paying. But with toil and labor we worked night and day that we might not burden any of you. It was not because we have not that right, but to give you in our conduct an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command, If anyone will not work, let him not eat.
For we hear that some of you are walking in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now, such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living. Brethren, do not be weary in well-doing. If anyone refuses to obey what we say in this letter, note that man and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed.
Do not look on him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Final greetings and benediction. Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine. It is the way I write.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The book of Proverbs chapter 30 verses 20 through 23.
This is the way of an adulteress. She eats and wipes her mouth and says, I have done no wrong. Under three things, the earth trembles. Under four, it cannot bear up. A slave when he becomes a king and a fool when he is filled with food.
An unloved woman when she gets a husband and a maid when she succeeds her mistress. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for this opportunity to be with you today.
We thank you, oh Lord God, for the beginning of the first letter of John, of just being reminded that you have made us into your children and what we shall be later on. We have no idea. The mind cannot even imagine. We cannot even dare to dream the future you have in store for us. And so we ask you to please help us Help us to belong to you. Help us to love one another.
Help us to place our faith into action. Help us not be lovers in speech or in word, but in deed and in truth. Help us to love the people that are in our vicinity, those who are in our orbit. Help us to love those people who are near to us. Help us to love them as you have loved us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
The first letter of St. John, all three, I mean, all three letters of St. John are just, they're encyclicals or they're letters of love. And this is so, so important that the theme of his letters are not only the triumph of Jesus, of course, not only the triumph of Jesus, but... how everyone who belongs to Jesus must, must love one another as he has loved us.
In fact, John makes the clear point that if we do not love our brothers, then we don't truly love God. That if we don't love those who are near to us, then we do not love the God who is invisible to us. How can you say, how can I say, I love the God who's invisible? and yet not love the brother or the neighbor who is visible. And so it's so important. But also St.
John says in chapter two, verse 15, so important. This is a theme that's repeated again and again, that do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. And that is so important. Again, that world and our Lord are at enmity with each other. The world wars against the Lord.
And so we just have to realize that how many of us, we're living for the world. How many of us at the end of this 365 days, we realize, Lord, the world has my heart more than you do. In so many ways, the world has shaped my lens more than you do.
In so many ways, Lord, what I work for, what I get up for, what I strive for day after day is not for you, but it's for the honors of the world, for the victories of the world, for the recognition of the world, or even for the comforts of the world. And yet, again, I can't belong to the Lord and belong to the world at the same time.
You know, in chapter two, when John makes it clear, do not love the world or the things of the world. In verse 16, he says, for all that is in the world, lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, but it's of the world. This is fascinating because you can go all the way back to the very beginning. Remember Genesis chapter three, 350 plus days ago.
In Genesis chapter three, you have Eve in the garden of Eden and the serpent comes into the garden and begins to tempt Eve to doubt the father's love for her, to choose to be of the world and not of the father, not of God, but of the world. And he points out the fruit of the tree.
And it says there in Genesis 3, verse 6, it says, Now, I don't know if you can catch this, but this is a little bit of a connection here. This is a little bit of a... some balance, some symmetry here. It was good for food, lust of the flesh, right? That sense that it's going to taste good. It'll satisfy my flesh here. Lust of the eyes.
She saw that it was pleasing to the eye and the pride of life also desirable for gaining wisdom. Remember the goal was God doesn't want you to become like him. You know, don't be like gods who know. And here in that pride, in that sin, in that lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life, Eve takes the fruit, eats it, gives it to her husband, eats it, they both fall.
Now, Jesus recapitulates this, right? Jesus in the wilderness, he faces a battle with Satan. And the battle is turn these stones into bread, throw yourself down from the parapet of the temple and bow down before me and you get the kingdoms of the world. We have where all of us, including our forefathers, Adam and Eve, where we all fail. Here's Jesus succeeding in resisting the lust of the flesh.
He doesn't change stones into bread. unless of the eyes, he doesn't want to be seen and pursue fame and the pride of life. He does not give into that worship of anything, anyone other than the Lord God himself. And just so remarkable and so incredible. Oh gosh. And I mentioned that we have been made into God's children in there in John chapter, first John chapter three, St.
John says this, he says, see what love the father has given us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, which is just a gift.
I can't even begin to highlight the gift that that is, that God has already bestowed on us in letting us be called his sons and daughters. Like we mentioned yesterday, going from a marionette to a real boy and a real girl to be actual sons and daughters of the Father. Second Thessalonians, just one quick note. And that is once again, St. Paul loves these people.
He loves them so much, but he's also highlighting to them, highlighting for them that do not turn away from the gospel that you are given and do not go running after people who are saying that no, Jesus already came and you missed him. Do not, do not do this because what's going to happen is there is more tribulation to come.
And Jesus, believe me, you will not miss him when he arrives, when he returns, you will not miss him. And that is a very important thing for all of us to note. In chapter three at the end, St. Paul also was recognizing that some of these people were saying, well, you know what? Jesus is coming right away. So I don't really have to work. I don't have to invest. I don't have to
put any effort into anything because he's coming. So why, you know, plant crops? Because shoot, you know, sooner or later, he's going to be here probably sooner. And so those crops won't be needed to be, I don't need to take care of the people around me. I don't need to take care of myself. And so St. Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, no.
Listen, you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness. He says, because we have this rule that those who do not work should not eat. And so that is very important that if you can work and you're not, then you're doing something wrong. And that's a very important thing because at the end of this, St.
Paul says, if anyone refuses to obey what we say in this letter, note that man and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed. So it's really important that they take heed of what St. Paul is saying. And yet his last words essentially are, At the same time, do not look on him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother, which is absolutely key, obviously, to not treat each other like enemies.
We're treating each other as brothers and sisters. So my brothers and sisters, I want to let you know that just as St. Paul said, please pray for me, and I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.