Devotion
Colossians 3:16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
What does Paul mean when he says to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”? This sounds like a command, placing it in the category of Law! The Law is something we must DO, which is the opposite of good news! But as obedient Christians, we want to make sure we're following all the rules! Is there a checklist we can refer to? Indeed! The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 are a great place to begin, but our Lord gives us a briefer response in Matthew's Gospel when the Pharisees send a lawyer “to test him.” The Pharisees were fantastic list-makers and box-checkers! But they were threatened by Jesus tossing aside their checklists, then hanging around with people who didn't use them, either, namely, sinners! In response to the lawyer’s question, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus’ concise answer is profound: “You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:35-40).
Jesus didn't toss aside the Ten Commandments, or add more rules to create a bigger checklist. He summarized without minimizing. How do we love the Lord? By loving our neighbor. Put another way, love for our neighbor illustrates our love for God. Earlier in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, telling them that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34). And this is exactly what this week's Scripture verse, Colossians 3:16, is getting at! Read Colossians chapter 3:1-17 to put our verse in its context. In summary: through Baptism, we have died to idolatry because we have put on the new self. Who is that new self? Christ! Our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). This is not something we DO, but something that has been DONE for us! The Word of Christ DOES dwell in us richly because Christ dwells in us! Where do we hear God's Word proclaimed? Where do we sing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs? Each week when we gather to receive His gifts for us in the Divine Service. Where do we pray with thanksgiving? It is the new self, Christ’s Spirit, “who intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). Put your checklists away, everyone, because Colossians 3:16 is anything but LAW. Indeed, it is Gospel Truth for us!
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1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
This year, Lent officially begins on March 5, with Ash Wednesday. Since the time of the ancient church, this somber forty-day season has been observed prior to the joyful season of Easter. In contrast, Lent is marked by a lack of Alleluias in worship, and by repentance and reflection. Our sin is nothing to rejoice about. And with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday, we begin a journey reminding us also of our finitude in contrast to the eternal God we worship. We recall the words Yahweh spoke to Adam and Eve after their Fall from grace: “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19b). Many people choose to abstain from certain enjoyments during Lent, whether foods, beverages, or pastimes, intending to spend more time in spiritual disciplines such as prayer or fasting. It seems especially appropriate to consider our verse of the week from this Lenten perspective.
What do we know about temptation? The father of temptation is Satan, as we witnessed in the Garden with Adam and Eve. The ultimate temptation is idolatry, or false worship, which breaks the First Commandment to have no other gods. We know, of course, that “God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:13b-15). Read carefully. Temptation does not come from God, but even so, temptation itself is not sin. How do we know? Jesus Himself was tempted: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). After His Baptism, in fact, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-13). Is it any surprise that the evil one came to Him after His 40 days of fasting? Yet Jesus shows us in this account the most effective weapon against the tempter's power: trust in God's powerful, effective Word. Jesus fulfilled the job description of God's people perfectly. Thankfully, through our Baptism, we are the recipients of His perfect obedience. Through the nourishment of His Body and Blood, He gives us “forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation” (Luther’s Small Catechism, The Sacrament of the Altar). He is our way of escape. Rest in His promises, for He is faithful!
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2 Corinthians 5:14–15
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
As presented on *The Lutheran Hour® by Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, April 15, 1957.
Jesus Christ gave Himself away. He was prompted to give Himself away not out of self-interest—no man ever forgot himself so completely in the process—but rather because of that deep feeling of personal attachment, which St. Paul called “love.”
Christ was for all people. When He died, He died for all. His hand reaches out to all, and His loving face seeks response from everyone into whose eyes He has looked. People of every condition, class, and color are the target of His love and concern. Good people, decent and law-abiding people like St. Paul himself, experienced His love. So did immoral people like the woman taken in adultery.
Christ wants you to give yourself away just as wholeheartedly and just as unselfishly as He gave Himself away for you. He wants you to dedicate yourself wholly to His purpose.
I know that this is possible because I have seen men and women who have responded to the great, mysterious, incomparable love of Christ with a love and gratitude and appreciation which would not let them stop short of giving themselves away. They are the kind of people who have power to change the world. The whole course of their lives has been changed because the love of Christ has taken hold of their hearts.
Martin Luther was one of these people. He once said, “If anyone would knock at the door of my heart and ask ‘Who lives here?’ I would answer, ‘Martin Luther once lived here, but Martin Luther has moved out and Jesus Christ has moved in.’”
THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, make us new. Help us trust in Your goodness and joyfully serve You with our whole hearts. Amen.
Taken from A Message of Hope: Proclaiming the Cross (selections from messages broadcast on *The Lutheran Hour, celebrating 75 years of proclaiming the promise).
Copyright © 2006 by Lutheran Hour Ministries
*The Lutheran Hour is the longest-running Christian radio broadcast in the world. It is a production of Lutheran Hour Ministries. For more information, visit www.lutheranhour.org.
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1 John 3:16
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Not long ago, I got a glimpse of the living hope we have in knowing Christ as our Savior after reading about the aftermath of a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park. One park ranger who was assessing the damage found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, the ranger knocked over the bird with a stick.
When he gently tapped it, three tiny chicks scurried out from under their dead mother's ashen wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and gathered them under her wings, sensing the approaching danger. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. Then the blaze arrived, and the heat scorched her small body. Through this, the mother remained steadfast; she had been willing to die so those under the cover of her wings would live.
When I read about this little bird that saved her babies, I thought of Psalm 91:4a. Here the Bible reminds us: "He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge." The wings of God were the gift of His Son, the power of His cross, and the glory of His resurrection.
All of us are caught up in the conflagration of sin, death, and the power of the devil. Our death is assured if we are left to our own power to try to escape these destructive powers. It is for this reason that God so loved each of us that He sent His own Son to gather us under His protective wings. On Calvary the blazing fire of evil and all our sins struck our Savior. He died with us gathered under His wings so that we, too, might live. The apostle Paul says it this way: "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The dead body of Christ was not a pillar of ash that was knocked over and forgotten, as it was with the mother bird's body. Rather, on the third day, He arose from the dead giving us a true and living hope now and throughout eternity.
The apostle John is reminding us that there is no greater definition of love than one who is willing to lay down his or her life for someone else. How thankful we can be for those who have sacrificed their lives—in any way—so that someone else might live. These acts of love continue to remind us that the greatest act of love is found in Jesus who willing gave His life for ours.
Thanks be to God who gives us victory in our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, overwhelm us with Your love so that we can love others the way You love us. Amen.
From "Overwhelming Love Breeds a Living Hope for Life," a message excerpt from Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
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https://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions/default.asp?date=20210417
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1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
Maurice was the name I gave to my first car: an Oldsmobile.
Over the years, Maurice became a faithful, trusted friend who took me from a great many point As to just as many point Bs.
Of course, there are times when something happens, and a vehicle can become more than simple, reliable transportation. Indeed, there can even be an emotional relationship between owner and auto. That was the way it was for Candida Torre of Huntington Beach, California.
Torre loved her car, well actually, the car of her son, Army Specialist Jose Torre. Jose's car became his mother's vehicle of choice when, in 2011, he was killed in Iraq. Understandably, every time she got in that car she thought of her son. It was a place of good memories.
But then something happened. There was an accident. The insurance company totaled the vehicle. Mrs. Torre was heartbroken.
Police Officer John Baggs was one of the men who responded to Mrs. Torre's mishap.
He also responded to her tears. Without letting her know, Officer Baggs got the remnants of the car and made something special happen. With help from AAA, and 120 hours donated by 27 different car repair employees, Officer Baggs bought about a $15,000 repair job.
On Veteran's Day, something special happened when Officer Baggs returned the restored vehicle to overwhelmed Mrs. Torre.
Emotionally, they stood in front of the vehicle and the thankful Mrs. Torre said, "With all my heart, it means a lot to have it back, it really does. It's nice to know that there are people in the world that have good hearts."
In truth, something special happens when an individual receives a precious gift they could not pay for or deserve. That is the way it was 2,000 years ago when, on a Roman cross which had been erected on a skull-shaped hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem, Jesus Christ died. In those days, crucifixions were a dime a dozen. Still, that being said, it should be noted something special happened:
* Something special happened because Jesus was the sinless Son of God.
* Something special happened because Jesus was making repairs on the relationship between God and man which had been totaled by the fall into sin.
* Something special happened because Jesus' life and death were a gift from God to us, a gift we could not afford, a gift we had not deserved.
* Something special happened when three days later Jesus rose from the dead and gave us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Now we, like Mrs. Torre can give thanks for the Lord's gracious heart and death-defeating Son.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, may we never take Your gift of eternal life for granted. May we appreciate and share with others. This we pray in the Name of Jesus who made redemption happen. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by the Good News Network on May 31, 2018. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/watch-officer-surprise-mother-of-fallen-soldier-with-sons-prized-possession-tbt/
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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