October 2024
Devotion
October 6, 2024 Exodus 34:6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” How frustrated and fearful Moses surely felt. He came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of the law written by the hand of the Lord Yahweh Himself, only to find the Israelites bowing down to idols they had fashioned in his absence! Not only did the people request such a vile thing, but Moses' own brother, Aaron, chosen to be the high priest of Yahweh, followed their instructions to create a false god for them to worship (Ex. 32)! Shocking betrayal. Utter shame. In his anger, Moses threw down the tablets, breaking them at the foot of the mountain (Ex. 32:19). God's people, whom He brought out of Egypt "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm," had turned away from their Savior to chase after pipe dreams (Ps. 136:11-12). If it had been up to the Israelites, they would have already returned to Egypt where they had comfort and food aplenty – or so they seemed to remember – even if they had been enslaved to the Egyptians all the while (Ex. 16:2-3). Moses despaired. Wouldn’t you? But we're no different. We struggle with perspective just like the Israelites, forgetting that the "good old days" were rarely that good, searching for the tiny patch of grass that seems just a tad greener on the other side of the Red Sea. Yet, even when we falter and fail, the Lord Yahweh remains faithful. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103:10). He remains faithful even unto death on a Roman cross. His name, then and now, is Immanuel, God with us, who forgives all our iniquities and crowns us with His steadfast love and mercy (Ps. 103:4; Mt.1:23). His name is Jesus. Lord God, thank You for Your steadfast love and faithfulness. We thank you for graciously giving us what we do not deserve and mercifully placing the punishment we deserve upon Jesus. We thank you for giving us His life. In His name we pray, Amen.
Song
Bible color coding
Devotion
October 13, 2024 Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Most of us remember our first paycheck and the pride we took in receiving a hard-earned wage that we traded time and effort for. Paul explains, "To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due" (Rom. 4:4). Scripture presents us with a hard truth, however: we did not "work" to earn our wages deserving of death. We inherited them from our forefather, Adam, who did earn death by his distrust in God's Word and his rebellion against His Creator. In fact, the entire creation has reaped the harvest of Adam's sin, "groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" (Rom. 8:23). This sinful condition we have inherited from Adam is so pervasive that, outside of Christ, we were "by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" and "dead in our trespasses" (Eph. 2:3b, 5a). Lest we be tempted to deny a part in earning these wages – for, after all, we did not ask Adam for our inheritance! – we must confess that we have actively pursued sin and avoided following God's law. So, we are wage-earners of sin as well as inheritors. We have therefore brought death upon ourselves, as we confess in the Divine Service, “by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” With Paul, we cry in despair, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24). The very best news we can receive is that the Lord Jesus has freely given us the gift of eternal life through His obedient life, death, and resurrection (Rom. 5:19). He lived the life that Adam should have lived and gives us an eternal inheritance that we don't deserve. Unlike earthly gifts, the gift of grace abounds endlessly! He nourishes us daily with His Spirit-filled Word, in the promises given us in our Baptism, in His very Body and Blood given us at the altar, imparting forgiveness and eternal life to us here and now! Heavenly Father, we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. Forgive us. We give you thanks and praise for the gift of eternal life through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
song
bible color coding
Devotion
song
bible color
coding
