This week we are vacationing with two of our daughter and their families. Six Adults and four kids between the ages of 5 and 11. We love it, although at times there is a bit of conflict and exasperation.
I was reminded of a video devotion Cheryl and I recorded just over a month into the Covid-19 “lockdown” and decided to share that with you today. Hope it gives you a smile and some wisdom from God’s Word.
One more day pondering these words:
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Yesterday’s thoughts closed with these words: You and I are people who already have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In His love and mercy He has reached out to us with the offer of forgiveness for Jesus sake. Through His life and death and resurrection He has done all that is necessary for us to be saved, to be God’s people called by His name.
Because we have faith in Jesus, because God has chosen us to be His people, these words from 2 Chronicles apply to us. Let’s go through the outline again, making it more personal:
IF my people – you and I who are His children through faith in Jesus.
If you and I will humble and pray and seek and turn THEN God will:
We must take God at His Word.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
We have been promised that when we humble ourselves, pray, seek, and turn from our wickedness, GOD will hear, forgive, heal –for Jesus Sake!
Hark! the voice of Jesus calling, “Who will go and work today?
Fields are white and harvests waiting, Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Loud and long the Master calls you, Rich reward He offers free;
Who will answer, gladly, saying, “Here am I, send me, send me?”
Luke 10:2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
John 4:35 Do you not say, `Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
That call goes out to each of us. Mission work is not just something for “those people over there.” It is the responsibility of everyone who has heard the Good News of Jesus as Savior. You have taken to heart the message of what the shed blood of Jesus has done for you. You are reminded of the forgiveness and life and salvation that He has given each time you receive the Sacrament of the Altar. Your life of response is to share this message.
“Who will go and work today?” Granted, each of us do it in different capacities and with differing gifts, but it is the work to which each of us has been called.
Will you do that work today?
In my last two devotions I have mentioned this passage.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Today and tomorrow I want to dig a little deeper into this with you. This passage presents a logical progression, a condition and response, an “If … Then” statement. One of the first things I learned in programming computers was about “If … Then” statements. These occur everywhere. Their purpose is to determine the outcome.
That is what God is setting up here in response to Solomon’s prayer.
IF my people…again, these are His chosen people that He is speaking to, those with whom He already has a relationship. He sets up four conditions
God tells His people if they will humble, pray, seek and turn, THEN He will
God’s actions were promised in response to His people believing in Him. The IF part of the formula describes faith in action. The THEN part of the formula is God’s promise to His faithful people. God is doing the promising, the acting, the giving. The people were merely invited to take God up on His offer.
You and I are people who already have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In His love and mercy He has reached out to us with the offer of forgiveness for Jesus sake. Through His life and death and resurrection He has done all that is necessary for us to be saved, to be God’s people called by His name.
I’ll wrap up my thoughts on this tomorrow.
This weekend we celebrate the birthday of our country. We are fortunate to live in a country that has been truly blessed by God. But is it really, as we say in the pledge, a “nation under God”? When you watch the behavior of those who are supposed to be running this country, those making the news with vicious attacks going both directions, do you really believe that the United States is a nation under God? Are we behaving like godly people?
Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, said: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God…”
Woodrow Wilson, our 28th President: “America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.”
In the Psalms we read “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
This country has had many of our brave young men and women serve in many wars. Countless prayers were offered for those who served to protect our freedoms and rid the world of evil aggressors. But does that make us a “Nation under God?”
The United States of America may not be a nation under God, but you and I are part of a nation that does look to the Lord. We are part of God’s chosen people, the people known as ISRAEL. I’m not talking about that state in the Middle East that is the location of constant terrorism and turmoil, but the true ISRAEL described in Scripture. Through faith in Christ, we are part of those God calls “My People.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Those words were spoken at the dedication of the Temple. Solomon had built this Temple for God, and in Chapter 6 prayed that God would be pleased and listen to the worship and requests offered there. It was in response to Solomon’s prayer that God spoke these words. Something that should not be overlooked is that God spoke these words to those who were already HIS people. He was the one who preserved them, brought them to this Promised Land, raised up judges and prophets and now kings to rule them. They were His people. These words applied to those who already had a relationship with Him: my people, who are called by my name.
While I am happy to be a citizen of the USA, that is not the most important thing to me. Nor is it being a Texan, which is even better. Those things have to do only with life here on earth, and they pale in comparison to knowing that I am part of God’s people, called by His name. That has to do with eternity.
Philippians 3:20–21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
And my being part of His people, His nation, was all His doing. He paid the price to buy me back from sin and death at His first coming. And He is coming again to take me to be with Him.
God did this for me. He did it for you. In fact, He did it for everyone. He wants all men and women to be part of His people. We need to share this message of freedom with the world.
1 John 2:2 [Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 1:11)
God’s name is great. It always will be because of who He is. But that does not mean everyone recognizes God for who He is. In fact, more and more people in this country have rejected God and choose to live as though He does not exist. They do not consider Him or His name to be great.
Luther gave us an important reminder in his explanation of the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hallowed be Thy name.
What does this mean? God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.
How is God’s name kept holy? God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!
Luther wants us to remember that it is our responsibility to keep God’s name holy by the way we live our lives, what we do and what we do not do.
A passage that has been very popular in this nation over the last couple of decades is 2 Chronicles 7:14. You see it on yard signs and bumper stickers and lots of other places. It is a great verse because it encourages God’s people to humbly pray and seek God with the promise that God will forgive and bless them. But pay attention to how the passage starts.
2 Chronicles 7:14 …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
We are the people called by God’s name. The world recognizes us as such. His name was placed on us when we were baptized. That sacrament joins us to everything Jesus did for us. His death for sin is our death for sin. His victory over death is our victory over death. We have the certainty of forgiveness and life eternal because we have been called to faith in Jesus and we have His name on us. It is our job, our calling, our duty to represent Him in a way that will let His greatness be evident.
This is more important now than ever, especially in light of the deep divisions in this natio. Let your words and your actions be a reflection of our great God, His love, and His compassion.
Remember our goal, summarized at the end of the hymn “Sent forth by God’s Blessing:”
“Then may all the living, with praise and thanksgiving, give honor to Christ and His name that we bear.”
In December of 2013, two opportunistic thieves saw what was too good to be true. Around 1:30 a.m., they found a cargo truck parked near a gas station in Tepojaco, a town just north of Mexico City. The driver was asleep. The armed thieves woke him, tied up him and his assistant, then drove off with the truck.
This wasn’t just another carjacking. It set off a frantic search for the vehicle and its contents. The truck was on its way to a disposal facility with Cobalt-60. The radioactive material had been used for treating cancer patients in a medical facility, but it was now being discontinued. The Cobalt-60 they stole could have been used to create a “dirty bomb.”
Evidently the thieves were totally unaware of what they had. The truck was found less than thirty miles from where it was taken. They broke open the box containing the radioactive cobalt sources and unknowingly exposed themselves to lethal radiation. Although the thieves were never found, they most certainly died within days of being exposed. Their desire to have something that was not rightfully theirs brought them death.
And that is the story of mankind.
The list in the Bible goes on, as do the sinful activities in our own lives. It doesn’t matter if it is a “big sin” or a “little sin.” Every sin separates us from God and deserves condemnation and death.
Thankfully, you and I are better off than those thieves who stole that truck filled with radioactive death. There was no cure for them, but in Christ you and I have the thing we need to correct our fallen condition.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through His life, His suffering, His death, and His glorious resurrection from the dead, Jesus provides the healing that can cleanse sinners of all unrighteousness. He transforms us from death to life.
Last week I completed another trip around the sun. Because we were attending a convention, there really wasn’t anything special about the day. That is usually not the case in our family, but I have spent many of my birthdays at conventions, so the celebration gets moved to another day.
Birthday celebrations involve parties and friends and decorations and cake and presents. It has become an expectation in our culture. And it seems like children’s birthday parties have become a competition of sorts, with people spending absurd amounts of money to lay bragging rights as to whose party was the best.
Birthday celebrations have not always been a reality. Much has been written about the origins of celebrating birthdays coming from mythology and magic. Some will tell us that Jewish tradition did not allow for birthday celebrations, yet interestingly they always tell us how old someone was when they died.
It became a custom in the early church to speak of the day of a person’s death as his or her “birthday” to a new life. St Ambrose wrote, “the day of our burial is called our birthday, because, being set free from the prison of our crimes, we are born to the liberty of the Saviour“, and “wherefore this day is observed as a great celebration, for it is in truth a festival of the highest order to be dead to our vices and to live to righteousness alone.”
Jesus spoke with Nicodemus about the need to be “born again.” It is not something we do, but something God gives us. And our new life does not have to wait until the day of our death to begin. It is a reality in our lives here and now.
1 Peter 1:3–4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,
That is something worth celebrating.
Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This was my confirmation verse. I asked my dad, my pastor, if that could be the verse spoken over me as I was confirmed in my faith. He said he would think about it, saying it was not a “normal” confirmation verse. In the end, he used it, and I’ve always loved this passage.
From early on, I wanted to be a pastor. When my siblings and I played “church,” I always insisted that I had to be the pastor. I felt called early in life to follow in the footsteps of my father. Hence the request for my confirmation verse.
In High School, I got sidetracked. I was a good student, especially in math. A petroleum engineer in my home congregation hired me to plot oil well production from computer printouts onto logarithmic paper. He used that to extrapolate and predict future production. He was paying me as a high school student a lot of money to sit at a desk. I became interested and decided to pursue petroleum engineering as a career. Being a good student at the top of my class, I got scholarships that enabled me to attend Texas A&M on a free ride.
Everything was great. I enjoyed being an Aggie, and I was making good grades. But God wouldn’t stop pestering me. One day in October as I was studying Calculus in my room, I looked up and saw my Bible on the shelf. I pulled it down and started reading it. I honestly don’t remember what I read that day. But after spending about an hour reading God’s Word, I called my dad and told him I thought I needed to transfer to Concordia in Austin and start studying for the ministry. I transferred in the middle of my freshman year.
We don’t always answer God’s call, or maybe we don’t answer it right away, but it is still there. Go. Make Disciples. Baptize and Teach. Share the message of Jesus, not just with those who already know it, but with those who don’t. That is why the church exists.
Lord, help us find the proper balance between caring for those who are members of the household of faith and reaching out to those dying without you. As we hear that good news again this week, may it fill us and renew us. Make us eager to share this Good News. Amen.
Recently I’ve been reflecting on our journey through this life. I thought about the numerous journeys I’ve made in my life, many of them up and down Interstate 35 in Texas. My wife and I graduated from Concordia Lutheran College in Austin in 1978. I lived in Dallas and drove down I-35 to get here. While we lived in Sherman, Texas, I continued to drive up and down I-35 for various meetings and to take and visit my three daughters when they attended Concordia.
Something I have become very familiar with through all those trips are mile markers, those sequentially numbered green rectangular signs that go from one end of the Interstate to the other. The numbers get smaller as you go from North to South. I-35 starts at #510 up north of Gainesville and ends with #0 down at the Mexico Border.
I initially became familiar with MILE MARKERS in college because of the Citizens Band Radio. I know that dates me, but it is a reality. In a world where everyone has a cell phone, the idea of people having radios in their vehicles to communicate seems kind of odd. Often times you would talk to complete strangers over those airwaves. It gave you some companionship and something to do when you were traveling alone. It helped you keep up with people traveling with you in other vehicles. It was fun to listen to the truckers banter with each other. And there were “Smokey Reports.” People would pass along the locations of Highway Patrolmen on the off chance that someone might be exceeding the national speed limit of 55 MPH. That information was given by naming the mile marker number.
I still notice the mile markers when I travel. Many of them slip by unnoticed, but there are certain ones I look for and pay attention to:
We all travel different roads through our lives and have different milestones, but sometimes they intersect. You make friends, and then you go down different paths. Yet the journey continues.
As you travel toward and reach significant milestone in your life, remember that Jesus is an important part of your journey. He is with you every step of the way, not just on the highlight reel. Something so profound that you can never fully understand it, yet so simple is summed up perfectly in one of the first songs you may have learned: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
On your journey, you will sometimes take a wrong turn or get off the path. There will be signs that tell you that as well. That is when it becomes even more important to focus on Jesus and all He has done for you. Greater love has never been nor will ever be shown to you than the love of God in Christ: His incarnation, His life of perfection, His willing sacrifice to redeem you from sin, His resurrection to proclaim victory over death. You have heard that message. Hopefully you have taken it to heart and put your faith in Jesus. If so, on your journey, the God of peace will be with you.
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