For because He himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.[Hebrews 2:18]
Although I spent a number of years studying Latin, because it's a tongue-twister I'm only going to say this plant's official name once. Ready? Today's devotion is speaking about Heracleum mantegazzianum.
Thankfully, there is another less impressive name for that plant. It's also commonly called the "giant hogweed" plant. Recently, Michigan's Calhoun County Public Health Department said it had found and identified a giant hogweed right in its own county.
The hardy plant is a native of Asia and looks something like Queen Anne's Lace. It has the ability to grow up to 15 feet and produces seeds that can grow and flower long after the parent plant has been destroyed.
At this point you will be excused for asking, "Why would anyone want to destroy a giant hogweed?" Well, that's a good question, and here's a good answer: the giant hogweed has a sap that can blister or scar the skin of anybody who touches it, and that sap is found on the plant's roots, leaves, seeds and flowers. If you get a bit of that sap in your eyes it can cause temporary or permanent blindness.
That's why the Detroit Free Press has called the plant, "one of Mother Nature's nastier creations."
Now that you know the story of the giant hogweed, let me ask, what would you do if you came across one of these in a clearly labeled pot? I know you would grab your children and pull them to a very safe place. I know you would warn other people who came close, but what would you do?
I am afraid much of humanity would ignore all the warnings and, throwing caution to the wind, touch the plant. They wouldn't be able to help themselves. They would have to find out if the dangers were real ... and if the plant could negatively affect them.
Think: Adam and Eve just had to taste the forbidden fruit. King David had to check out forbidden Bathsheba, and Peter had to check out what was happening in the high priest's courtyard the night Jesus was condemned to death.
We sinful souls are pretty predictable. Tell us not to do something, and you can be pretty sure that forbidden thing is just the thing we're going to do next.
That's the way we operate but, thankfully, Jesus was the exception to the rule.
When our Savior came into this world, He did all that was asked and expected of Him. He refused to compromise with temptation and He avoided every transgression. Before His life was over, He shouldered our sins and took them to the cross, where He died the death we deserved.
By His resurrection believers are assured that forgiveness and salvation are theirs, and they can be given the power, will and desire not to play with that which is forbidden.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, let me follow my Savior closely and avoid the world's temptations. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Although I spent a number of years studying Latin, because it's a tongue-twister I'm only going to say this plant's official name once. Ready? Today's devotion is speaking about Heracleum mantegazzianum.
Thankfully, there is another less impressive name for that plant. It's also commonly called the "giant hogweed" plant. Recently, Michigan's Calhoun County Public Health Department said it had found and identified a giant hogweed right in its own county.
The hardy plant is a native of Asia and looks something like Queen Anne's Lace. It has the ability to grow up to 15 feet and produces seeds that can grow and flower long after the parent plant has been destroyed.
At this point you will be excused for asking, "Why would anyone want to destroy a giant hogweed?" Well, that's a good question, and here's a good answer: the giant hogweed has a sap that can blister or scar the skin of anybody who touches it, and that sap is found on the plant's roots, leaves, seeds and flowers. If you get a bit of that sap in your eyes it can cause temporary or permanent blindness.
That's why the Detroit Free Press has called the plant, "one of Mother Nature's nastier creations."
Now that you know the story of the giant hogweed, let me ask, what would you do if you came across one of these in a clearly labeled pot? I know you would grab your children and pull them to a very safe place. I know you would warn other people who came close, but what would you do?
I am afraid much of humanity would ignore all the warnings and, throwing caution to the wind, touch the plant. They wouldn't be able to help themselves. They would have to find out if the dangers were real ... and if the plant could negatively affect them.
Think: Adam and Eve just had to taste the forbidden fruit. King David had to check out forbidden Bathsheba, and Peter had to check out what was happening in the high priest's courtyard the night Jesus was condemned to death.
We sinful souls are pretty predictable. Tell us not to do something, and you can be pretty sure that forbidden thing is just the thing we're going to do next.
That's the way we operate but, thankfully, Jesus was the exception to the rule.
When our Savior came into this world, He did all that was asked and expected of Him. He refused to compromise with temptation and He avoided every transgression. Before His life was over, He shouldered our sins and took them to the cross, where He died the death we deserved.
By His resurrection believers are assured that forgiveness and salvation are theirs, and they can be given the power, will and desire not to play with that which is forbidden.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, let me follow my Savior closely and avoid the world's temptations. This I ask 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:
Psalms 73:(0) A psalm of Asaf:
The Lutheran Hour
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
____________________________
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Psalms 73:(0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) How good God is to Isra’el,
to those who are pure in heart!
2 But as for me, I lost my balance,
my feet nearly slipped,
3 when I grew envious of the arrogant
and saw how the wicked prosper.
4 For when their death comes, it is painless;
and meanwhile, their bodies are healthy;
5 they don’t have ordinary people’s troubles,
they aren’t plagued like others.
6 So for them, pride is a necklace;
and violence clothes them like a robe.
7 Their eyes peep out through folds of fat;
evil thoughts overflow from their hearts.
8 They scoff and speak with malice,
they loftily utter threats.
9 They set their mouths against heaven;
their tongues swagger through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here
and [thoughtlessly] suck up that whole cup of water.
11 Then they ask, “How does God know?
Does the Most High really have knowledge?”
12 Yes, this is what the wicked are like;
those free of misfortune keep increasing their wealth.
13 It’s all for nothing that I’ve kept my heart clean
and washed my hands, staying free of guilt;
14 for all day long I am plagued;
my punishment comes every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will talk like them,”
I would have betrayed a generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
I found it too hard for me —
17 until I went into the sanctuaries of God
and grasped what their destiny would be.
18 Indeed, you place them on a slippery slope
and make them fall to their ruin.
19 How suddenly they are destroyed,
swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakens;
Adonai, when you rouse yourself,
you will despise their phantoms.
21 When I had a sour attitude
and felt stung by pained emotions,
22 I was too stupid to understand;
I was like a brute beast with you.
23 Nevertheless, I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice;
and afterwards, you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?
And with you, I lack nothing on earth.
26 My mind and body may fail; but God
is the rock for my mind and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who adulterously leave you.
28 But for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made Adonai Elohim my refuge,
so that I can tell of all your works.
85:(0) For the leader. A psalm of the sons of Korach:
2 (1) Adonai, you have shown favor to your land;
you have restored the fortunes of Ya‘akov,
3 (2) taken away the guilt of your people,
pardoned all their sin, (Selah)
4 (3) withdrawn all your wrath,
turned from your fierce anger.
5 (4) Restore us, God of our salvation,
renounce your displeasure with us.
6 (5) Are you to stay angry with us forever?
Will your fury last through all generations?
7 (6) Won’t you revive us again,
so your people can rejoice in you?
8 (7) Show us your grace, Adonai;
grant us your salvation.
9 (8) I am listening. What will God, Adonai, say?
For he will speak peace to his people,
to his holy ones —
but only if they don’t relapse into folly.
10 (9) His salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory will be in our land.
11 (10) Grace and truth have met together;
justice and peace have kissed each other.
12 (11) Truth springs up from the earth,
and justice looks down from heaven.
13 (12) Adonai will also grant prosperity;
our land will yield its harvest.
14 (13) Justice will walk before him
and make his footsteps a path.
1 Corinthians 11:17 But in giving you this next instruction I do not praise you, because when you meet together it does more harm than good! 18 For, in the first place, I hear that when you gather together as a congregation you divide up into cliques; and to a degree I believe it 19 (granted that there must be some divisions among you in order to show who are the ones in the right). 20 Thus, when you gather together, it is not to eat a meal of the Lord; 21 because as you eat your meal, each one goes ahead on his own; so that one stays hungry while another is already drunk! 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or are you trying to show your contempt for God’s Messianic community and embarrass those who are poor? What am I supposed to say to you? Am I supposed to praise you? Well, for this I don’t praise you!
23 For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you — that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; 24 and after he had made the b’rakhah he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me”; 25 likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the Lord’s bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord! 28 So let a person examine himself first, and then he may eat of the bread and drink from the cup; 29 for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30 This is why many among you are weak and sick, and some have died! 31 If we would examine ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you gather together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If someone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it will not result in judgment.
As for the other matters, I will instruct you about them when I come.
____________________________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