Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Looking Good" Thursday, 5 June 2014 (Jesus said) "And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."(Mark 13:37)
When Martin Luther's dog was looking to get some scraps, which
might fall from his master's table, the reformer commented, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope." Over the centuries some things haven't changed, including a dog's concentration on "treats."
Unfortunately, some of the things our dogs find pleasant to the eye are not necessarily good. Case in point: after the deaths of more than 1,000 dogs and 5,000 sick pooches, Petco has decided to stop selling all dog and cat jerky treats, which have been made in China.
Now it's true the FDA hasn't identified a direct cause for the illnesses, and it is also true the owner of a Chinese factory that makes these treats ate one to prove his dog jerky was safe. Still, Petco feels the evidence is strong enough to justify their pulling the treats from the shelves.
Now, if you're wondering what do dog jerky treats have to do with Christianity, I can reply: a great deal -- if you remember one of the devil's greatest tricks is to take something that is bad for us and make it appealing to our eyes.
Consider just a few of the times when the devil has been successful by making the forbidden seem appealing. In the Garden of Eden, Eve saw the forbidden fruit was a "delight to the eyes" (see Genesis 3:6), and she ate; centuries later Achan saw -- and took -- forbidden spoils from the fallen city of Jericho (see Joshua 7), and David got himself into no end of trouble when he became a peeping tom (see 2 Samuel 11).
Today our envious eyes show us all the things we simply have to have, and pornography has twisted and messed up many lives and marriages. Knowing our looks of lust and longing, the Savior warned: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29).
Thankfully, there is a solution to our visual search for the sinful.
The Lord Jesus encouraged His people: "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is" (Mark 13:33 KJV). That's it. We need to keep our eyes fixed on the cross and the Savior's empty tomb. It was there, as well as throughout His life, that Jesus paid the price that won our salvation. If we look at Jesus' sacrifice and if we continue to pray for deliverance and assistance, the Holy Spirit will help shut our souls to seeing that which is sinful.
And that, my friends, takes us back to Luther who said, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope."
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, may my eyes look only upon that which is healthy for my mind, heart and soul. Grant that I may avoid gazing on and longing for the temptations of the devil. This I ask in the Name of the crucified and risen Savior. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Psalms 101: A Psalm by David.
1 I will sing of loving kindness and justice.
To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.
2 I will be careful to live a blameless life.
When will you come to me?
I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.
3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes.
I hate the deeds of faithless men.
They will not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart will be far from me.
I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor.
I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,
that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in a perfect way,
he will serve me.
7 He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house.
He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.
8 Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land;
to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.
Psalm 103: By David.
1 Praise Yahweh, my soul!
All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2 Praise Yahweh, my soul,
and don’t forget all his benefits;
3 who forgives all your sins;
who heals all your diseases;
4 who redeems your life from destruction;
who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;
5 who satisfies your desire with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 Yahweh executes righteous acts,
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
9 He will not always accuse;
neither will he stay angry forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor repaid us for our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like a father has compassion on his children,
so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we are made.
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass.
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone.
Its place remembers it no more.
17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him,
his righteousness to children’s children;
18 to those who keep his covenant,
to those who remember to obey his precepts.
19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens.
His kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his,
who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word,
obeying the voice of his word.
21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his,
you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his,
in all places of his dominion.
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
Psalm 108: A Song. A Psalm by David.
1 My heart is steadfast, God.
I will sing and I will make music with my soul.
2 Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations.
I will sing praises to you among the peoples.
4 For your loving kindness is great above the heavens.
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
5 Be exalted, God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth.
6 That your beloved may be delivered,
save with your right hand, and answer us.
7 God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph,
I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim also is my helmet.
Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my wash pot.
I will toss my sandal on Edom.
I will shout over Philistia.”
10 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who has led me to Edom?
11 Haven’t you rejected us, God?
You don’t go out, God, with our armies.
12 Give us help against the enemy,
for the help of man is vain.
13 Through God, we will do valiantly.
For it is he who will tread down our enemies.
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8 “In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. 9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. 11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another. 18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’[a] If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me, hates my Father also. 24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’[b]
26 “When the Counselor[c] has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Footnotes:
a. John 15:20 John 13:16
b. John 15:25 Psalms 35:19; 69:4
c. John 15:26 Greek Parakletos: Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, and Comforter.
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