(Jesus said) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."[John 13:34-35]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.
In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
We are traveling to the kingdom of God.
On the way there we are all blessed to be in the company and on the path of Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit we have been called to faith and hope in Jesus Christ our Savior. As such, and in honor of the Redeemer, we have been given the privilege to love one another.
But the question that confronts us is "How do we love one another?"
The answer to that question is simple to say but hard to do.
We are encouraged to love one another according to God's standards. Now we normally love somebody because that person has been kind to us, or because they are our relatives, etc. That's something I call "loving with conditions."
In contrast to our restricted love, the Lord's love is unconditional, which helps people know Him.
The Lord wants us to treat each other like that because by our actions everyone can know and see we are His disciples. We do not really need a uniform with a logo or other Christian-related words. No, what we need is true love in action. By this, many and most people in the neighborhood will easily recognize that we are sons of the God of love.
Do you want to let people know you are a son or daughter of God? I am sure you will say yes immediately. If so, that means we will want to reveal the love which comes from our heart and not just by our words or some temporary feelings. Loving one another must be a lifetime decision, a commission, a right attitude to respect others and bring benefits to the ones we love.
I have experienced this once and helped my friend to be saved. He is suffering AIDS now. Nobody, even his family members, wants to hear, share, support and take care of him. I listen to him, share ups and downs with him, and he himself feels the special love (that I am given by God) I give to him. He is touched and he is, by the Holy Spirit, brought to faith in Jesus now.
Thank God for helping me share this true love with my friend by this very lesson. If there was not God's teaching, I would love our neighbors, especially my friend, by the love according to people's standards. In that case, everything will be "the same old story": nobody knows Christ and nobody is saved either.
THE PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You because Your Words are so sweet and wonderful that help us to live a fruitful life for You. Please continue to help us reveal Your sweet love in our life so that more and more people will know we are Your disciples and come to You, Lord. Amen!
Biography of Author: Today's international devotion was written by Vietnamese Pastor Dang Chau Nogoc. Lutheran Hour Ministries-Vietnam works with existing government-recognized congregations and organizations to assist in outreach in this country, where atheism is the "semiofficial" religion. Government regulations prohibit any religious activities outside the church; therefore, LHM-Vietnam cooperates with local congregations to spread the Gospel through programs such as Bible Correspondence Courses (BCC), puppet shows, videos and musical performances. Lutheran Hour Ministries-Vietnam also provides Equipping the Saints(ETS) workshops to train lay Christian volunteers in personal witnessing.
Known in-country as Globalinks, LHM-Vietnam's ministry center's holistic outreach includes conducting eyeglass clinics and children's nutritional programs in an effort to build community relationships. Soccer tournaments are used as a model to demonstrate Christian values to youth.
To see what's going on around the world at LHM-Vietnam, you can click here to find out more.
To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhm.org/international.
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:
Proverbs 5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding;
2 so that you will preserve discretion
and your lips keep watch over knowledge.
3 For the lips of a woman who is a stranger drop honey,
her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
her steps lead straight to Sh’ol;
6 she doesn’t walk the level path of life —
her course wanders all over, but she doesn’t know it.
7 So now, children, listen to me;
don’t turn away from what I am saying:
8 distance your way from her,
stay far from the door of her house;
9 so that you won’t give your vigor to others
and your years to someone who is cruel,
10 so strangers won’t be filled with your strength
and what you worked for go to a foreign house.
11 Then, when your flesh and bones have shrunk,
at the end of your life, you would moan,
12 “How I hated discipline!
My whole being despised reproof,
13 I ignored what my teachers said,
I didn’t listen to my instructors.
14 I took part in almost every kind of evil,
and the whole community knew it.”
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,
fresh water from your own well.
16 Let what your springs produce be dispersed outside,
streams of water flowing in the streets;
17 but let them be for you alone
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain, the wife of your youth,
be blessed; find joy in her —
19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn;
let her breasts satisfy you at all times,
always be infatuated with her love.
20 My son, why be infatuated with an unknown woman?
Why embrace the body of a loose woman?
21 For Adonai is watching a man’s ways;
he surveys all his paths.
22 A wicked person’s own crimes will trap him,
he will be held fast by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die from lack of discipline;
the magnitude of his folly will make him totter and fall.
6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your friend,
if you committed yourself on behalf of another;
2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth,
caught by the words of your own mouth.
3 Do this now, my son, and extricate yourself,
since you put yourself in your friend’s power:
go, humble yourself, and pester your friend;
4 give your eyes no sleep,
give your eyelids no rest;
5 break free, like a gazelle from the [hunter’s] trap,
like a bird from the grip of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones!
Consider its ways, and be wise.
7 It has no chief, overseer or ruler;
8 yet it provides its food in summer
and gathers its supplies at harvest-time.
9 Lazybones! How long will you lie there in bed?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 “I’ll just lie here a bit, rest a little longer,
just fold my hands for a little more sleep” —
11 and poverty comes marching in on you,
scarcity hits you like an invading soldier.
12 A scoundrel, a vicious man,
lives by crooked speech,
13 winking his eyes, shuffling his feet,
pointing with his fingers.
14 With deceit in his heart,
he is always plotting evil and sowing discord.
15 Therefore disaster suddenly overcomes him;
unexpectedly, he is broken beyond repair.
16 There are six things Adonai hates,
seven which he detests:
17 a haughty look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet swift in running to do evil,
19 a false witness who lies with every breath,
and him who sows strife among brothers.
20 My son, obey your father’s command,
and don’t abandon your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart,
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you wake up, they will talk with you.
23 For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah is light,
and reproofs that discipline are the way to life.
24 They keep you from an evil woman,
from a loose woman’s seductive tongue.
25 Don’t let your heart lust after her beauty
or allow her glance to captivate you.
26 The price of a whore is a loaf of bread,
but the adulteress is hunting for a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire inside his shirt
without burning his clothes?
28 Can a man walk [barefoot] on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So is he who has sex with his neighbor’s wife;
anyone touching her will be punished.
30 A thief is not despised if he steals
only to satisfy his appetite when hungry;
31 but even he, if caught, must pay back sevenfold;
he may have to give up all the wealth that he owns.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get nothing but blows and contempt,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy drives a man into a rage;
he will show no mercy when he takes revenge;
35 he will not accept compensation;
he’ll refuse every bribe, no matter how large.
7:1 My son, keep my words,
store up my commands with you.
2 Obey my commands, and live;
guard my teaching like the pupil of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”;
call understanding your kinswoman;
5 so that they can keep you from unknown women,
from loose women with their seductive talk.
6 For I was at the window of my house,
glancing out through the lattice,
7 when I saw among the young men there,
among those who don’t think for themselves,
a young fellow devoid of all sense.
8 He crosses the street near her corner
and continues on toward her house.
9 Dusk turns into evening,
and finally night, dark and black.
10 Then a woman approaches him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
11 She’s the coarse, impulsive type,
whose feet don’t stay at home;
12 rather, she stalks the streets and squares,
lurking at every streetcorner.
13 She grabs him, gives him a kiss,
and, brazen-faced, she says to him,
14 “I had to offer peace sacrifices,
and I fulfilled my vows today.
15 This is why I came out to meet you,
to look for you; now I’ve found you.
16 I’ve spread quilts on my couch
made of colored Egyptian linen.
17 I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come on, let’s make love till morning;
we’ll enjoy making love.
19 My husband isn’t at home,
he’s gone on a long trip;
20 he took a bag of money with him
and won’t be back till the moon is full.”
21 With all her sweet talk she convinces him,
enticing him with her seductive words.
22 At once he follows her
like an ox on its way to be slaughtered;
like a fool to be punished in the stocks;
23 or like a bird rushing into a trap,
not knowing its life is at stake
till an arrow pierces its liver.
24 So now, children, listen to me;
pay attention to what I am saying.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways;
don’t stray onto her paths.
26 For many are those she has struck down dead,
numerous those she has killed.
27 Her house is the way to Sh’ol;
it leads down to the halls of death.
John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Miryam from Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she came running to Shim‘on Kefa and the other talmid, the one Yeshua loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
3 Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa and reached the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Shim‘on Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there, 7 also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up. 8 Then the other talmid, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted. 9 (They had not yet come to understand that the Tanakh teaches that the Messiah has to rise from the dead.)
10 So the talmidim returned home, 11 but Miryam stood outside crying. As she cried, she bent down, peered into the tomb, 12 and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 “Why are you crying?” they asked her. “They took my Lord,” she said to them, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 As she said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t know it was he. 15 Yeshua said to her, “Lady, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you’re the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and I’ll go and get him myself.” 16 Yeshua said to her, “Miryam!” Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, “Rabbani!” (that is, “Teacher!”) 17 “Stop holding onto me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Miryam of Magdala went to the talmidim with the news that she had seen the Lord and that he had told her this.
19 In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the talmidim were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the Judeans, Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” 20 Having greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side. The talmidim were overjoyed to see the Lord. 21 “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated. “Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.” 22 Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Ruach HaKodesh! 23 If you forgive someone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you hold them, they are held.”
24 Now T’oma (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came. 25 When the other talmidim told him, “We have seen the Lord,” he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe it.”
26 A week later his talmidim were once more in the room, and this time T’oma was with them. Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” 27 Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!” 28 T’oma answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Yeshua said to him, “Have you trusted because you have seen me? How blessed are those who do not see, but trust anyway!”
30 In the presence of the talmidim Yeshua performed many other miracles which have not been recorded in this book. 31 But these which have been recorded are here so that you may trust that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by this trust you may have life because of who he is.
The Lutheran Hour
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment