Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

"From Sorrow to Joy"

They [disciples] were very sad. (Matthew 26:22)

Deep-sea fishing may be on the list of activities of some who are vacationing on the coast. Some will be disappointed at the results. But, very likely, none will have so frustrating an experience as did the deep-sea fisherman in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” who caught a marlin on his 85th day out, only to have the sharks eat it before he could bring it in.

The disciples were sorrowful when they heard Jesus say that one of them would betray Him. Unquestionably their sorrow was occasioned also by the expectation that Jesus would be taken from them and cause the whole movement to collapse. The fishermen among them – Peter, Andrew, James, and John – might have thought of it as the frustrating experience of having something big on the line but seeing the catch get away.

“We had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21), said the downcast Emmaus disciples. With Jesus dead and buried, they thought all their hopes were in vain. How wrong they were! For all the while Jesus was very much alive, a sure proof that He had succeeded in redeeming Israel and all mankind.

We all have our disappointments. Sometimes it seems that we are frustrated in everything we try to do. Then we need to listen to Jesus: “Your grief will turn to joy” (John 16:20). And if we must live with grief for a while, we can be, in Saint Paul’s words, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

[Soldier4Christ]

"Making Right Judgments"

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Things are not always as them seem to be. Several years ago a touring American school teacher saw signs in a Rothenburg, Germany, restaurant which said: “Death to Luther, the Saxon Hun.” She thought the local people were anti-Lutheran, until a technician explained that these were props for the filming of the “Martin Luther” move. Tourists have to be careful not to judge by what they see.

The prophet Samuel, sent to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as king, looked at the imposing Eliab, the oldest son and thought: “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD” (1 Samuel 16:6). But the Lord replied, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him” (1 Samuel 16:7). David was the one He wanted.

Jesus said, “Stop judging by mere appearances; and make a right judgment” (John 7:24).

The all-knowing God looks on the heart when He judges. He looks for faith there—faith in Jesus Christ, who went to Calvary’s cross to make us righteous before God. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

We take a page out of God’s book when we judge others by the standards of love, patience, and honesty as defined in Holy Scripture. This makes for right judgments.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Check it Out!"

Test everything. Hold on to the good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Tourists whose money and time are limited have to be discriminating about where they want to go and what they want to see. A wise traveler does not neglect what is historically and culturally important.

In “Gulliver’s Travels” Jonathan Swift expresses biting sarcasm concerning the human inclination to start controversies over little things. He has the Big Endians wage war against the Small Endians because they can’t agree on what end of an egg one opens to eat it.

“Gulliver’s Travels” are “gullible’s travels” for people who go through life thinking that all things are equally important, equally good. They suppose that all religions are basically the same and lead to heaven. They think it makes little difference what a person believes, just so he is sincere. They are inclined to swallow everything others tell them, not recognizing priority. Jesus said that some “strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24).

The apostle Paul reminds us: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” The Bible makes it clear that we should examine all religious teachings before we accept them. Then, having verified them from the written Word of God as true, we are to hold them fast. Jesus tells us that we are truly His disciples when we continue in His Word. If in doubt about anything, check it out!

[Soldier4Christ]

"Consider the Difference!"

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)

People visiting other lands are usually impressed by the differences in life style.

As different as a foreign culture may be from our own, the difference between Christians and non-Christians is even greater. Saint Paul tells the Corinthians about a depraved lifestyle that includes immorality, idolatry, greed, theft, drunkenness, and the like. He adds, “And that is what some of you were” (1 Corinthians 6:11). But no longer! How did the change come about? The Holy Spirit had through the Gospel and the sacrament of Baptism brought them to faith in Jesus Christ.

Christ changes lives. “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). We too were washed, sanctified, and justified. The lifestyle of the world is no longer for us, for we have become God’s children in Christ.

Whether we are at home or whether we travel abroad, it becomes us to be good examples of the Christian faith we profess.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Death Comes"

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

The bowhead whale would have had its first encounter with humans in the early 1880’s. It would not have been a pleasant meeting. A man would have raised a heavy gun and fired a projectile that was designed to explode after it had penetrated deep beneath the whale’s skin. The shot was designed to kill, but since it never hit a vital spot, the whale was only wounded.

A bowhead whale had its final encounter with humans last month off the coast of Alaska. This was also not a pleasant meeting. The man raised a heavy gun and fired a projectile that exploded after it penetrated deep into the whale’s blubber. The shot was designed to kill. It did. As the whale was being cut up, the shell from the first hunt was discovered. Its unique shape allowed historians to identify approximately when and where that shell had been made (sometime around 1870 near New Bedford, Massachusetts).

Last week, as I read the Associated Press story about the death of a 100-year-old whale that measured 49 feet and weighed 50 tons, I was confronted by the universality and finality of death. You may be able to escape it for a while, but eventually death is going to get you.

I’m not the first to think that kind of thought. When Adam and Eve started wearing the hides of the animals that had once been their companions in the Garden, they must have thought about death. They must have realized how their sin had brought death into this world. They must have thought how death was going to touch everything and everybody in the world, even bowhead whales in Alaska.

If all that sounds depressing, it was.

But for Christians, “depressing” doesn’t have the last say, does it? Because of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He has made for us, we know that death has been defeated. Because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, we know that no grave can permanently hold God’s people. Because Jesus has redeemed us, we know that the time will come when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And while that wonderful news may not have helped that bowhead whale, it means everything to us.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Two Masters"

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12 (KJV)

Religious scholars can sometimes get very silly. I’ve been told that during the middle-ages, clergy spent considerable time debating the question, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” With an answer that is both unimportant and unverifiable, the question ought rightly be deposited in a big garbage dumpster marked “WHO CARES?” On the other hand, every Bible-believing Christian ought to care about a story that came out of the state of Washington last week.

Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal Priest from the great Northwest, has publicly professed her faith in both Christianity and Islam. Ann has been quoted as saying, “Why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam? At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible. That's all I need.” There is one other thing Ann needs. She needs to realize they’re not compatible. Either Jesus is the Savior, or He is not. Either His is the only Name which saves, or it is not. You can’t have it both ways. At least, that’s what my Bible says.

Now, the purpose of this devotion is not to point an accusatory finger at this priest and her radical disagreement with Scripture. Far better for these words to encourage you. If you have a pastor who preaches the Scripture, who points sinful souls to the Savior and the forgiveness Christ has won on the cross and at the empty tomb, give thanks to God and speak encouraging words to him.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak at the 115th anniversary celebration of Historic First Lutheran in Pasadena, California. When I stepped into the pulpit, the members of this ethnically diverse congregation prayed for me, just as they pray for their pastor every Sunday. This is what they said:

Take him, Lord, this morning. Wash him with hyssop inside and out. Hang him up and drain him dry of sin. Pin his ear to the wisdom post and make his words sledge hammers of truth, beating on the iron heart of sin. Lord God, this morning put his eye to the telescope of eternity and let him look upon the paper alls of time. Lord, turpentine his imagination. Put perpetual motion in his arms. Fill him full of the dynamite of Thy power. Anoint him all over with the oil of Thy salvation and set his tongue on fire. (In Jesus’ Name) Amen.

If that prayer touches you as it touched me, I would encourage you to print it out and save it. Then, as your pastors steps into the pulpit every Sunday, pray that prayer, or one like it. Give thanks to God who has given you a preacher who knows there is only one Name which saves: the Name of Jesus.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Lights"

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:5

Father, mother, and daughter ventured forth to their community’s mega mall. Armed with credit card and checkbook, they were prepared to run the gauntlet of harried clerks and engage in hand-to-hand combat with harassed customers in the annual life-and-death struggle known as “Christmas shopping.” Sleet began to fall as they drove around the parking lot. They found a spot, about six miles away from the great glass doors of the shopping center. I can’t verify that distance, all I can do is share the story as it’s been told to me.

The parents made a point of memorizing where they parked. Unlike last year, this year they would not wander, aimlessly, looking for their vehicle. The little girl knew none of these things. She was simply satisfied to be surrounded by the sights and sounds and settings of the season. All went as expected. Hours later, they returned home. The parents were frazzled and fatigued by the traffic, the lists, and the long lines, while their daughter was humming Christmas carols. Mom and dad argued and aggravated each other while their girl floated on a fog of fabulous feelings through the entire evening. Nothing is more exasperating than to be in the presence of a genuinely happy individual. It was no different for those parents. Around 10 o’clock, Dad told his daughter to stop singing and go to bed.

Eventually, Mom and Dad went up their daughter’s room for prayers. They found her window wide open—not a wise move for a Wisconsin family in December. Dad asked, “Why is your window open?” The little girl replied, “I thought I heard the angels singing.” Tired, temperamental, and testy, Dad shot back, “I don’t hear any angels singing and you don’t either.” As he moved to shut the window, his little girl said, “Daddy, if you want to hear the angels sing, you have to listen with your heart."

She is right. And, if you want to see the Savior, you must do so with eyes of faith. This booklet has tried, by story and suggestion, through facts and fancy, to show the Savior. But if you are to really see Him, it will only be because the Holy Spirit has brought you into the light and given you eyes of faith. Do you see Him? I can only pray that you, like the Christmas shepherds may hear the angels, and then having heard, go and see in Bethlehem’s stable, God’s Good News of great joy: the Savior, Christ the Lord.

[Soldier4Christ]

"A Kind of God"

I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which He is to be praised. Isaiah 63:7

Not so long ago, a man brought his boss home for dinner. Like many people of authority, the boss was patronizing, pompous, and pretentious! The little boy of the household, never having seen a man act in such a way, had difficulty tearing his eyes away from the boss. He stared at the head-honcho for almost the entire meal. Finally, the boss stopped and asked, “Young man, why do you keep looking at me like that?" The little boy shyly said, "My daddy says you are a self-made man." The boss was pleased to hear someone else had recognized what he had known about himself all along. He admitted that yes it was so; he was, indeed, a self-made man. Then the little boy asked, quite innocently, “Sir, I was wondering, if you are a self-made man, why did you make yourself like this?"

Why, indeed? Why do we as individuals, as communities, as countries, as the global human family do the things that we do? Why have we made ourselves the way we are? Every nation hates war, but at this moment there are wars. Every human being wants to live in peace and harmony, yet homes and households are torn by dissension and wracked by division. Why have we made ourselves the way we are? Why, after centuries of human struggling and striving for improvement, is every New Year ushered in with a dollop of hope and a mountain of fearful uncertainty? Why are we the way we are? The answer is simple: because we are sinful.

Because we are sinful, because we cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, we need a Savior. Only Jesus, the sinless Son of God, can bring true and lasting change to this world and to us. Christians who have Jesus as their Savior, who have looked into the Christmas cradle, who have seen Calvary’s cross and the empty tomb of Resurrection Sunday rejoice that they have a God who can shake the world –who can conquer evil with good and dispel the deepest darkness.

In Jesus, our days, and our years, are made new. We can meet each dawn with the presence of the Savior. Pain and problems will come, but with the help of the Redeemer, who has carried all our worries and woes upon His broad shoulders, we can emerge victorious. So, come what may, like the psalmist, we say, “I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which He is to be praised.”

[Soldier4Christ]

"Surgery for the Savior"

“And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” Mark 9:45-48

Years ago, I heard about a preacher who delivered a powerful sermon on the subject of sin, damnation, and hell. After the service, one of the church leaders confronted him and offered a suggestion. “Pastor,” he said, “we don’t want you to talk as openly as you do about sin and hell. If our boys and girls hear you it will be very easy for them to fall into temptation. Call sin a ‘mistake’; call hell by another name; but please, please, don’t go into detail.”

The pastor removed a small bottle from a shelf behind his desk and asked, “Can you read the label? It says ‘Strychnine.’ Underneath the name, in bright red letters, there’s a skull and crossbones and the word poison. Should I change the label? What you are asking me to do would be like changing this label. Suppose I write ‘Pirate Candy’ over the skull and crossbones, what do you think might happen if one of our little ones saw it? The milder the label, the more dangerous the poison!”

No doubt many who listened to Jesus talk about cutting off feet and plucking out eyes would have preferred He speak a little more mildly. Today, many interpreters of the Savior’s words say He was just exaggerating and we shouldn’t take Him too seriously. Minimizing the warnings of the Savior is a dangerous thing for anyone to do. Jesus did have a sense of humor, but when He speaks about the dangers of hell, it is time for all who hear to sit up and take notice.

Think about it. Jesus left the joys of heaven to be born here on earth. During the course of His life, He was rejected, laughed at, accused, and ridiculed by the very people He had come to save. In the last week of His life He suffered betrayal, scourging, and crucifixion. Why did He undergo all of this anguish? So you and I could be free from the fires and flames of hell.

Of course, it is not necessary for us to do any eye-plucking or feet chopping to escape damnation. Indeed, we can’t do anything to free ourselves from eternal destruction. Jesus, through His sacrificial death, has done everything necessary for us to be saved. For that reason we don’t minimize the dangers of hell; we maximize the salvation the Savior has won.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Christians: Recycled People"

[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. (Ephesians 2:4)

Many things that vacationers and tourists once threw away: paper products, glass bottles, plastic and metal containers are now reprocessed for further use. We call this treatment “recycling.” The appearance of our environment benefits from the removal of empty containers, to say nothing of conserving our dwindling natural resources.

God’s way of restoring sinful man to a new life can be called recycling. Sin always uses up, ruins, and destroys the person living in it. But God does not want to see the waste of human beings whom He once made in His image. He has no pleasure in the death of anyone. He is not willing that any should perish.

We are all sinners – by nature and by what we think, say, and do. Left to ourselves we would be lost. Our presence in this world would do nothing to brighten up the scene, to improve the environment.

So God, the great Recycler, goes into action. He converts sinners. He takes those who are dead in trespasses and sins and makes them alive and new in Jesus Christ. In the words of the prophet: “[He] will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19). What a heart transplant!

Jesus Christ died for all, so that all human beings might be recycled for a life of service to God.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Fishers of Men"

Come follow Me,” Jesus said , “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)

The sport of fishing, which many people engage in during their vacation or holiday time, was used by Jesus to call attention to another activity – that of catching people with the net of the Gospel.

The behavior of fish is sometimes surprising. At Mauritania in western Africa, it is said, the dolphins drive the smaller fish, the mullets, to shore so that the fishermen can catch them. So it is with people. The Lord uses people to bring other people to Him so that He can catch them, convert them, and bless them with His love. He does love them, for on the cross He died for them too.

Some good exemplars of such middlemen to bring other men to Jesus were Andrew and Philip. Of Andrew it is said after he had heard Jesus speak: “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon [Peter] and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41). The next day, after Jesus had enlisted Philip as a disciple, we are told that “Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’” (John 1:45).

These two men will illustrate the principle: Jesus calls on His followers to bring other prospective followers to Him so that they will be His disciples also. During our free time away from home we too may have the opportunity to share the Good news and thus be fishers of men.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Overwhelmed by the City?"

The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens. (Acts 17:15)

Visiting new and unfamiliar places can be an overwhelming experience, especially if the place is a big, traffic-troubled city. In “Catcher in the Rye,” J.D. Salinger tells about the 48-hour stay of a teen-age youth, Holden Caulfield, in New York City after he had flunked out of prep school in Pennsylvania. The lad was fairly overcome by the complex and perplexing circumstances of the city.

During his second missionary journey Saint Paul came to Athens, the historic capital city of Greece. He was no doubt impressed, but he was not overwhelmed; rather he was determined to preach the Gospel of Christ in this center of human wisdom and enterprise.

To acquaint himself with the city, the apostle toured Athens, making mental notes of what he saw. This is how he introduced his address on Mars Hill: “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). He then proceeded to speak of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Judge whom God raised from the dead.

To us strange cities need not be overwhelming. God is there, the same as He is everywhere else. While sin abounds, God’s grace abounds much more. This grace is ours in Jesus Christ, who once suffered in a city, was crucified outside the city walls, and rose again from the dead to save us.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Music in the Country"

“The older son was in the field. When he came near the house he heard music.” (Luke 15:25)

You don’t have to make an excursion along backwoods country roads to hear “country music.” It is played everywhere, even in the cities -- “country music” lyrics with messages of love, hate, joy, sorrow, elation, and disappointment.

Joy and gratitude were mingled with resentment as music was being played at the country home of a man whose wayward, prodigal son had returned. The joy and gratitude were in the father’s heart, while anger and frustration smoldered in the heart of his older son.

Although we don’t always rejoice when the lost is found, Jesus does. His parables with a country setting bear this out. There was a party when a shepherd found his lost sheep. There was music and singing and dancing when the prodigal son returned.

God’s country music features a great love song, namely, that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son for its salvation.

Whether we live in the country or in the city, God’s great love song is meant for us. The theme of the country music that the prodigal son heard and that you and I may also hear is forgiveness.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Alone With God"

[Jesus] withdrew again to a mountainside by Himself. (John 6:15)

Holidays can be a time of wholesome withdrawal from the distractions of our world allowing us to be alone with God. Many people in our society are afraid of solitude. They may be very unhappy, as Giovanni Papini indicates in his “Life of Christ:” “The people who cannot endure solitude are the mediocre and mean ones. They have nothing to offer, they are afraid of themselves, of their own emptiness.”

We read in the Gospels that on several occasions Jesus retired to quiet places where He could meditate and spend long hours in prayer to His Heavenly Father. Quite often He retreated on the eve of an important decision or event.

We are not prophets and, therefore, do not know for sure what Jesus thought about during His hours of solitude. We can surmise, however that He pondered what He would have to endure as the Servant who would soon suffer and die for the redemption of sinners. This task of love must have been on His mind, for He spoke of it: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Because Jesus was the Mediator between God and man, you and I are at peace with God, can come to the Father without fear, and are assured of many blessings as we commune with Him – alone and in the company of others.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

You will…hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

People who spend their holiday or vacation near the sea have a marvelous opportunity to meditate on its importance in the life of mankind.

One aspect of ocean knowledge that may require more study as nuclear power is being harnessed is man’s use of the sea for the disposal of nuclear waste. Some scientists believe that this deadly waste should be “buried in basalt beneath the bed of the Pacific Ocean.”

How is it with man’s sin – with that spiritually destructive force so active in our world – can it be buried and put away so that it can no longer hurt us and cause the death of the soul? Yes, for the prophet Micah declares, “You will…hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”

God can cast our sins into the deep sea of eternal oblivion because He has cast them onto His Son. That beloved Son, Jesus Christ, was the Sinbearer for the whole world. He, the Lamb of God, takes away the world’s sin, including ours.

About this there can be no doubt: If we repent of our sins, look to Jesus for forgiveness, and intend every day to walk in “newness of life,” God will take all of our sins and put them forever out of sight and out of mind. So, if you are spending some time near the sea, think of this and rejoice.