Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour - Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "If Not You, Then Who?" for Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour - Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "If Not You, Then Who?" for Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.[James 1:27]

Douglas MacRae has been a newspaper carrier in Sparta, New Jersey, for eight years.
During that time he was able to meet and get to know some of the folks on his early morning route. There were others whom he has never met, or has only seen a time or two. Eighty-five-year-old Olive Blaison was one individual who fit into that last category.
Even though he didn't know Blaison well, Mr. MacRae became concerned about her.
Going through Blaison's neighborhood in the wee, small hours of the morning, he noticed she hadn't brought in the newspaper from the day before, or the one from the day before that. There were no footprints in the snow, and one light had been consistently burning in the house for the last few days.
Bothered, Mr. MacRae stopped at the police station and asked them to see if things were okay with the elderly lady. The police did check and found Blaison had had a heart attack. She had fallen to the floor and been unable to get up for the last few days.
I am pleased to share that Blaison was taken to the hospital where she has made a full and complete recovery. She is now scheduled to move in with her niece.
But ... but I wonder what might have happened if Mr. MacRae hadn't acted, or if he hadn't been concerned, or if he had thought taking care of Blaison was the exclusive duty of a relative or one of the other people on her block.
Things might have turned out not so happily ever after.
Now the point of this devotion is simple. There are a lot of Olive Blaisons out there. There is no shortage of people who have special needs. All too often the shortage is in the number of people who are ready to respond to those needs.
As I read through the Gospels, I see a Savior who responded. When He was tired, He responded; when He was frustrated, He responded; when His actions would have Him override the laws of the Pharisees and get Him into trouble, He responded. This He did because He loved those folks -- and because He wanted to set an example of caring for us to follow.
He wants those whom He has helped to be helpers for others.
Now I don't know what situation or circumstance may come your way. I don't even know if a need from someone else may present itself to you. No, I don't know those things, but I do know that God's people need to be ready and willing to do what they can, when they can, for whomever they can.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, You saw my helpless condition and decided to do that which would bring about my forgiveness and salvation. Through Jesus' sacrifice I have been saved. Now I ask that You will let me express my thanks by helping those who are in need. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour^®
Lutheran Hour Ministries

Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Genesis 27: Isaac Blesses Jacob
1 After Isaac had become old and almost blind, he called in his first-born son Esau, who asked him, “Father, what can I do for you?”
2 Isaac replied, “I am old and might die at any time. 3 So take your bow and arrows, then go out in the fields, and kill a wild animal. 4 Cook some of that tasty food that I love so much and bring it to me. I want to eat it once more and give you my blessing before I die.”
5 Rebekah had been listening, and as soon as Esau left to go hunting, 6 she said to Jacob, “I heard your father tell Esau 7 to kill a wild animal and cook some tasty food for your father before he dies. Your father said this because he wants to bless your brother with the Lord as his witness. 8 Now, my son, listen carefully to what I want you to do. 9 Go and kill two of your best young goats and bring them to me. I’ll cook the tasty food that your father loves so much. 10 Then you can take it to him, so he can eat it and give you his blessing before he dies.”
11 “My brother Esau is a hairy man,” Jacob reminded her. “And I am not. 12 If my father touches me and realizes I am trying to trick him, he will put a curse on me instead of giving me a blessing.”
13 Rebekah insisted, “Let his curse fall on me! Just do what I say and bring me the meat.” 14 So Jacob brought the meat to his mother, and she cooked the tasty food that his father liked. 15 Then she took Esau’s best clothes and put them on Jacob. 16 She also covered the smooth part of his hands and neck with goatskins 17 and gave him some bread and the tasty food she had cooked.
18 Jacob went to his father and said, “Father, here I am.”
“Which one of my sons are you?” his father asked.
19 Jacob replied, “I am Esau, your first-born, and I have done what you told me. Please sit up and eat the meat I have brought. Then you can give me your blessing.”
20 Isaac asked, “My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?”
“The Lord your God was kind to me,” Jacob answered.
21 “My son,” Isaac said, “come closer, where I can touch you and find out if you really are Esau.” 22 Jacob went closer. His father touched him and said, “You sound like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy like Esau’s.” 23 And so Isaac blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.
24 Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
“Yes, I am,” Jacob answered.
25 So Isaac told him, “Serve me the wild meat, and I can give you my blessing.”
Jacob gave him some meat, and he ate it. He also gave him some wine, and he drank it. 26 Then Isaac said, “Son, come over here and kiss me.” 27 While Jacob was kissing him, Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and said:
“The smell of my son
is like a field
    the Lord has blessed.
28 God will bless you, my son,
    with dew from heaven
and with fertile fields,
    rich with grain and grapes.
29 Nations will be your servants
    and bow down to you.
You will rule over your brothers,
and they will kneel
    at your feet.
Anyone who curses you
    will be cursed;
anyone who blesses you
    will be blessed.”
30 Right after Isaac had given Jacob his blessing and Jacob had gone, Esau came back from hunting. 31 He cooked the tasty food, brought it to his father, and said, “Father, please sit up and eat the meat I have brought you, so you can give me your blessing.”
32 “Who are you?” Isaac asked.
“I am Esau, your first-born son.”
33 Isaac started trembling and said, “Then who brought me some wild meat right before you came in? I ate it and gave him a blessing that cannot be taken back.”
34 Esau cried loudly and begged, “Father, give me a blessing too!”
35 Isaac answered, “Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing.”
36 Esau replied, “My brother deserves the name Jacob,[a] because he has already cheated me twice. The first time he cheated me out of my rights as the first-born son, and now he has cheated me out of my blessing.” Then Esau asked his father, “Don’t you still have any blessing left for me?”
37 “My son,” Isaac answered, “I have made Jacob the ruler over you and your brothers, and all of you will be his servants. I have also promised him all the grain and grapes that he needs. There’s nothing left that I can do for you.”
38 “Father,” Esau asked, “don’t you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!” Then Esau started crying again.
39 So his father said:
“Your home will be far
    from that fertile land,
where dew comes down
    from the heavens.
40 You will live by the power
of your sword
    and be your brother’s slave.
But when you decide to be free,
    you will break loose.”
41 Esau hated his brother Jacob because he had stolen the blessing that was supposed to be his. So he said to himself, “Just as soon as my father dies, I’ll kill Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah found out what Esau planned to do, she sent for Jacob and told him, “Son, your brother Esau is just waiting for the time when he can kill you. 43 Now listen carefully and do what I say. Go to the home of my brother Laban in Haran 44 and stay with him for a while. When Esau stops being angry 45 and forgets what you have done to him, I’ll send for you to come home. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?”[b]
46 Rebekah later told Isaac, “Those Hittite wives of Esau are making my life miserable! If Jacob marries a Hittite woman, I’d be better off dead.”
Isaac’s Instructions to Jacob
28:1 Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said:
Don’t marry any of those Canaanite women. 2 Go at once to your mother’s father Bethuel in northern Syria[c] and choose a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation. 4 May he bless you with the land he gave Abraham, so that you will take over this land where we now live as foreigners.
5 Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah’s brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.
Esau Marries the Daughter of Ishmael
6 Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and had warned him not to marry any of the Canaanite women. He also learned that Jacob had been sent to find a wife in northern Syria[d] 7 and that he had obeyed his father and mother. 8 Esau already had several wives, but he realized at last how much his father hated the Canaanite women. 9 So he married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth[e] and the granddaughter of Abraham.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran. 11 At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock. 12 In a dream he saw a ladder[f] that reached from earth to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
13 The Lord was standing beside the ladder[g] and said:
I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. 14 Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people.[h] 15 Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won’t leave you—I will do all I have promised.
16 Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, “The Lord is in this place, and I didn’t even know it.” 17 Then Jacob became frightened and said, “This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder[i] to heaven.”
18 When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God, 19 and he named the place Bethel.[j] Before that it had been named Luz.
20 Jacob solemnly promised God, “If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothes 21 and bring me safely home again, you will be my God. 22 This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me.”[Footnotes:
27.36 Jacob: In Hebrew “Jacob” sounds like “cheat.”
27.45 lose. . . day: Esau would be hunted down as a murderer if he killed Jacob, and so Rebekah would lose both of her sons.
28.2,6 northern Syria: See the note at 24.10.
28.2,6 northern Syria: See the note at 24.10.
28.9 Nebaioth: Ishmael’s oldest son (see 25.13).
28.12 ladder: Or “stairway.”
28.13 the ladder: Or “Jacob” or “the stairway” (see the note at 28.12).
28.14 Your family. . . people: Or “All people will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your family.”
28.17 ladder: See the note at 28.12.
28.19 Bethel: In Hebrew “Bethel” means “House of God.”]
Matthew 18: An Official Who Refused To Forgive
21 Peter came up to the Lord and asked, “How many times should I forgive someone[a] who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?”
22 Jesus answered:
Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times![b] 23 This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like:
One day a king decided to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed him. 24 As he was doing this, one official was brought in who owed him fifty million silver coins. 25 But he didn’t have any money to pay what he owed. The king ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the debt.
26 The official got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you every cent I owe!” 27 The king felt sorry for him and let him go free. He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the money.
28 As the official was leaving, he happened to meet another official, who owed him a hundred silver coins. So he grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, “Pay me what you owe!”
29 The man got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you back.” 30 But the first official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put in jail until he could pay what he owed.
31 When some other officials found out what had happened, they felt sorry for the man who had been put in jail. Then they told the king what had happened. 32 The king called the first official back in and said, “You’re an evil man! When you begged for mercy, I said you did not have to pay back a cent. 33 Don’t you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?” 34 The king was so angry that he ordered the official to be tortured until he could pay back everything he owed. 35 That is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don’t forgive each of my followers with all your heart.[Footnotes:
18.21 someone: Or “a follower.” See the note at 18.15.

18.22 seventy-seven times: Or “seventy times seven.” The large number means that one follower should never stop forgiving another.]
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