---
Matthew 5:16 - (Jesus said) "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."Years ago, Jim Croce sang the song, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim."
The chorus to that song includes a list of four things you shouldn't do. It reads: "And you don't tug on Superman's cape; You don't spit into the wind; You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger; and you don't mess around with Jim."
To that list we can add one more item: you don't vandalize Seattle's statue of Ken Griffey, Jr.
For those of you who don't follow baseball, Ken Griffey was a pretty good player. He hit tons of home runs; he was a great fielder, and he was respected and loved by many. When he became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, the percentage of those who voted for him set a record.
Since the Mariner's team is incredibly proud of Ken Griffey, Jr., earlier this year, in front of Safeco Field, they put up a statue in his likeness. The bronze shows Griffey throwing down his bat after having clobbered a pitch out of the park.
It is a beautiful piece of art and was appreciated by many.
Of course, recently there was a fellow who either hated the statue -- or he loved it intensely. No matter how he felt inside, outward he started wiggling the statue's bat. When no one was noticing, he moved it this way, and then that way. Eventually, the bat broke off, and the fellow started to make his getaway -- would have made it, too, if it were not for two things.
Now at this point I could say Jesus also got involved and did the right thing and because He did, our sinful selves have been repaired. Yes, I could say it, but it would be wrong. Jesus' life, suffering, death, and resurrection were not the right thing to do. The right thing to do would have been to let us die. What Jesus did was not the right thing; it was the gracious, undeserved thing. Without any merit or worthiness in us, He came and offered Himself as the sacrifice for our salvation.
Now, in thanks for all He has done, He encourages us to get involved and do that which is right. When God's people let their light shine, the world sees our good works and honors our Father who is in heaven. God is glorified.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, it is an easy thing for people to sit back and remain unconcerned and uninvolved. We give thanks that Your grace had You get involved and accomplish that which saves. Grant that my involvement may glorify and point the lost to You. In Your Name I pray Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Allison Sundell for the NBC Channel 5 on October 12, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
Matthew 5:16 - (Jesus said) "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."Years ago, Jim Croce sang the song, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim."
The chorus to that song includes a list of four things you shouldn't do. It reads: "And you don't tug on Superman's cape; You don't spit into the wind; You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger; and you don't mess around with Jim."
To that list we can add one more item: you don't vandalize Seattle's statue of Ken Griffey, Jr.
For those of you who don't follow baseball, Ken Griffey was a pretty good player. He hit tons of home runs; he was a great fielder, and he was respected and loved by many. When he became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, the percentage of those who voted for him set a record.
Since the Mariner's team is incredibly proud of Ken Griffey, Jr., earlier this year, in front of Safeco Field, they put up a statue in his likeness. The bronze shows Griffey throwing down his bat after having clobbered a pitch out of the park.
It is a beautiful piece of art and was appreciated by many.
Of course, recently there was a fellow who either hated the statue -- or he loved it intensely. No matter how he felt inside, outward he started wiggling the statue's bat. When no one was noticing, he moved it this way, and then that way. Eventually, the bat broke off, and the fellow started to make his getaway -- would have made it, too, if it were not for two things.
- What he had been doing had been noticed by Kelsey Klevenberg who was working in an office building across the street. When security didn't show, Klevenberg got involved. He left his meeting, took the elevator downstairs, and began to pursue the man. And since the fellow was armed with a bronze baseball bat, as he ran, Klevenberg called the police.
- And the second reason the man was caught? Apparently, he was drunk. When Klevenberg caught up to him, the fellow had fallen asleep on the sidewalk, and he had thrown the statue's bat into a garbage can. Klevenberg kept watch until the police arrived and arrested the man.
Now at this point I could say Jesus also got involved and did the right thing and because He did, our sinful selves have been repaired. Yes, I could say it, but it would be wrong. Jesus' life, suffering, death, and resurrection were not the right thing to do. The right thing to do would have been to let us die. What Jesus did was not the right thing; it was the gracious, undeserved thing. Without any merit or worthiness in us, He came and offered Himself as the sacrifice for our salvation.
Now, in thanks for all He has done, He encourages us to get involved and do that which is right. When God's people let their light shine, the world sees our good works and honors our Father who is in heaven. God is glorified.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, it is an easy thing for people to sit back and remain unconcerned and uninvolved. We give thanks that Your grace had You get involved and accomplish that which saves. Grant that my involvement may glorify and point the lost to You. In Your Name I pray Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Allison Sundell for the NBC Channel 5 on October 12, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 13
Lamentations 3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his fury,
2 He has led me and made me walk
in darkness and not in light.
3 Against me alone he turns his hand
again and again, all day.
4 He has worn away my skin and flesh,
he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me live in darkness,
like those who are long dead.
7 He has walled me in, so I can’t escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I cry out, pleading for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone,
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He lies in wait for me like a bear,
like a lion in hiding.
11 He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces,
leaving me stunned.
12 He has bent his bow and used me
as a target for his arrows.
13 He has pierced my vital organs
with shafts from his quiver.
14 I’m a laughingstock to all my people,
the butt of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
sated me with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel
and pressed me down into ashes.
17 I have been so deprived of peace,
I have so forgotten what happiness is,
18 that I think, “My strength is gone,
and so is my hope in Adonai.”
19 Remember my utter misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
20 They are always on my mind;
this is why I am so depressed.
21 But in my mind I keep returning to something,
something that gives me hope —
22 that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted,
that his compassion has not ended.
23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning!
How great your faithfulness!
24 “Adonai is all I have,” I say;
“therefore I will put my hope in him.
25 Adonai is good to those waiting for him,
to those who are seeking him out.
26 It is good to wait patiently
for the saving help of Adonai.
27 It is good for a man
to bear the yoke from his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when he has laid it on him.
29 Let him submit absolutely;
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it,
and receive his fill of insults.
31 For rejection by Adonai
does not last forever.
32 He may cause grief, but he will take pity,
in keeping with the greatness of his grace.
33 For he does not arbitrarily torment
or punish human beings.
34 When anyone tramples underfoot
any of the prisoners of the land;
35 when anyone deprives a person of justice,
in defiance of the Most High;
36 when someone is cheated of justice in court —
does Adonai not take note of such things?
37 Who can say something and have it happen
without Adonai’s commanding it?
38 Don’t both bad things and good proceed
from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should anyone alive complain,
even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways
and return to Adonai.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven and say,
42 “We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled;
you, for your part, have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered us with anger,
pursued and slaughtered us without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick
that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have reduced us
to rubbish and filth among the peoples.
46 “All our adversaries
open their mouths to jeer at us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes stream with rivers of water
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
49 My eyes weep ceaselessly;
there is no respite,
50 until Adonai looks down
and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes make me so upset
at the fate of the women in my city.
52 Those who are my enemies for no reason
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They forced me alive into a pit
and threw stones on me.
54 Water rose above my head;
I thought, “I am finished!”
55 I called on your name, Adonai,
from the bottom of the pit.
56 You heard my voice; don’t close your ear
at my sighs, at my cries.
57 You came near when I called to you;
you said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 Adonai, you defended my cause;
you redeemed my life.
59 Adonai, you see how I have been wronged;
give judgment in my favor!
60 You have seen all their vindictiveness
and all their plots against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, Adonai,
and all their plots against me,
62 the whispered murmurings of my foes
against me all day long.
63 See how, whether they sit or stand,
I am the butt of their taunts.
64 Repay them, Adonai,
as their deeds deserve.
65 Give them hardheartedness
as your curse on them.
66 Pursue them in anger!
Destroy them from under your heavens!
4:1 How the gold has lost its luster!
How the fine gold has changed!
How the stones of the sanctuary
lie scattered at every streetcorner!
2 The precious sons of Tziyon,
as precious as fine gold —
to think they are now worth no more
than clay jars made by a potter!
3 Even jackals bare their breasts
in order to nurse their young,
but the daughters of my people have become as cruel
as ostriches in the desert.
4 The tongue of the baby at the breast
sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst;
young children are begging for bread,
but no one is giving them any.
5 People who once ate only the best
lie dying in the streets;
those who were raised wearing purple
are clawing at piles of garbage.
6 For the offense of the daughter of my people
is greater than the sin of S’dom,
which was overthrown in an instant,
without a hand to help her.
7 Her princes were purer than snow;
they were whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls,
as beautiful as sapphires.
8 Now their faces are blacker than coal;
in the streets they go unrecognized.
Their skin has shriveled over their bones
and become as dry as a stick.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off
than those who are dying from hunger;
since these waste away as if pierced through,
for lack of food from the fields.
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children;
their children became their food
when the daughter of my people was destroyed.
11 Adonai has finished with his fury,
he has poured out his blazing wrath;
he kindled a fire in Tziyon
that consumed its very foundations.
12 The kings of the earth could not believe,
neither could anyone living in the world,
that enemy or foe would ever enter
the gates of Yerushalayim.
13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the offenses of her cohanim,
who, within her walls,
shed the blood of the righteous.
14 They wander in the streets like the blind;
they are so polluted with blood
that nobody is able
even to touch their clothing.
15 “Keep away! Unclean!” people shout at them,
“Keep away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
They flee, to wander here and there;
but no nation allows them to stay.
16 Adonai himself scattered them;
he will no longer look after them;
they had no respect for cohanim
and showed no kindness to the leaders.
17 As for us, our eyes are worn out
from looking in vain for help;
we kept on watching and watching
for a nation that couldn’t save us.
18 They keep dogging our steps,
so that we can’t go out in our streets.
Our end is near, our time is up;
yes, our end has come.
19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles in the sky.
They chased us over the mountains
and waylaid us in the desert.
20 Adonai’s anointed, our life-breath,
was caught in their pits;
though of him we had said, “Under his protection,
we can live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice, be glad, daughter of Edom,
who lives in the land of ‘Utz.
To you too the cup will pass;
you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!
22 Your offenses, daughter of Tziyon, are atoned for;
he will keep you in exile no longer.
Your offenses, daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will expose your sins.
5:1 Remember, Adonai, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless orphans,
our mothers now are widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water;
we have to buy our own wood.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted;
we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.
6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur
to get enough food.
7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist;
we bear the weight of their guilt.
8 We are ruled by slaves,
and there is no one to save us from their power.
9 We get our food at the peril of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skins are as black as a furnace
because of the searing blasts of famine.
11 They have raped the women of Tziyon,
virgins in the cities of Y’hudah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands,
leaders receive no respect.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have deserted the city gate,
the young men have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts,
our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our heads.
Woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 This is why our hearts are sick;
this is why our eyes grow dim —
18 it’s because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted
that jackals have overrun it.
19 You, Adonai, reign forever;
your throne endures through all generations.
20 Why do you never remember us?
Why abandon us for so long a time?
21 Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past —
22 unless you have totally rejected us
in a fury that knows no limits.
[Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past.]
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly friendship continue; 2 but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels. 3 Remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves.
4 Marriage is honorable in every respect; and, in particular, sex within marriage is pure. But God will indeed punish fornicators and adulterers.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, “I will never fail you or abandon you.”[Hebrews 13:5 Deuteronomy 31:6] 6 Therefore, we say with confidence,
“Adonai is my helper; I will not be afraid —
what can a human being do to me?”[Hebrews 13:6 Psalm 118:6]
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke God’s message to you. Reflect on the results of their way of life, and imitate their trust — 8 Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by various strange teachings; for what is good is for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. People who have made these the focus of their lives have not benefited thereby.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not permitted to eat. 11 For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp.[Hebrews 13:11 Leviticus 16:27] 12 So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace. 14 For we have no permanent city here; on the contrary, we seek the one to come. 15 Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually.[Hebrews 13:15 Leviticus 7:12; 22:29; Psalms 50:14, 23; 107:22; 116:17; 2 Chronicles 29:31] For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name.
16 But don’t forget doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your lives, as people who will have to render an account. So make it a task of joy for them, not one of groaning; for that is of no advantage to you.
18 Keep praying for us, for we are certain that we have a clear conscience and want to conduct ourselves properly in everything we do. 19 And all the more I beg you to do this, so that I may be restored to you that much sooner.
20 The God of shalom brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Yeshua, by the blood of an eternal covenant. 21 May that God equip you with every good thing you need to do his will; and may he do in us whatever pleases him, through Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 Now I urge you, brothers, to bear with my message of exhortation; for I have written you only briefly.
23 Know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, I will bring him with me when I come to see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all God’s people. The people from Italy send greetings to you.
25 Grace be with you all.
---
2 He has led me and made me walk
in darkness and not in light.
3 Against me alone he turns his hand
again and again, all day.
4 He has worn away my skin and flesh,
he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me live in darkness,
like those who are long dead.
7 He has walled me in, so I can’t escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I cry out, pleading for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone,
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He lies in wait for me like a bear,
like a lion in hiding.
11 He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces,
leaving me stunned.
12 He has bent his bow and used me
as a target for his arrows.
13 He has pierced my vital organs
with shafts from his quiver.
14 I’m a laughingstock to all my people,
the butt of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
sated me with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel
and pressed me down into ashes.
17 I have been so deprived of peace,
I have so forgotten what happiness is,
18 that I think, “My strength is gone,
and so is my hope in Adonai.”
19 Remember my utter misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
20 They are always on my mind;
this is why I am so depressed.
21 But in my mind I keep returning to something,
something that gives me hope —
22 that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted,
that his compassion has not ended.
23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning!
How great your faithfulness!
24 “Adonai is all I have,” I say;
“therefore I will put my hope in him.
25 Adonai is good to those waiting for him,
to those who are seeking him out.
26 It is good to wait patiently
for the saving help of Adonai.
27 It is good for a man
to bear the yoke from his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when he has laid it on him.
29 Let him submit absolutely;
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it,
and receive his fill of insults.
31 For rejection by Adonai
does not last forever.
32 He may cause grief, but he will take pity,
in keeping with the greatness of his grace.
33 For he does not arbitrarily torment
or punish human beings.
34 When anyone tramples underfoot
any of the prisoners of the land;
35 when anyone deprives a person of justice,
in defiance of the Most High;
36 when someone is cheated of justice in court —
does Adonai not take note of such things?
37 Who can say something and have it happen
without Adonai’s commanding it?
38 Don’t both bad things and good proceed
from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should anyone alive complain,
even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways
and return to Adonai.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven and say,
42 “We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled;
you, for your part, have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered us with anger,
pursued and slaughtered us without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick
that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have reduced us
to rubbish and filth among the peoples.
46 “All our adversaries
open their mouths to jeer at us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes stream with rivers of water
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
49 My eyes weep ceaselessly;
there is no respite,
50 until Adonai looks down
and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes make me so upset
at the fate of the women in my city.
52 Those who are my enemies for no reason
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They forced me alive into a pit
and threw stones on me.
54 Water rose above my head;
I thought, “I am finished!”
55 I called on your name, Adonai,
from the bottom of the pit.
56 You heard my voice; don’t close your ear
at my sighs, at my cries.
57 You came near when I called to you;
you said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 Adonai, you defended my cause;
you redeemed my life.
59 Adonai, you see how I have been wronged;
give judgment in my favor!
60 You have seen all their vindictiveness
and all their plots against me.
61 You have heard their taunts, Adonai,
and all their plots against me,
62 the whispered murmurings of my foes
against me all day long.
63 See how, whether they sit or stand,
I am the butt of their taunts.
64 Repay them, Adonai,
as their deeds deserve.
65 Give them hardheartedness
as your curse on them.
66 Pursue them in anger!
Destroy them from under your heavens!
4:1 How the gold has lost its luster!
How the fine gold has changed!
How the stones of the sanctuary
lie scattered at every streetcorner!
2 The precious sons of Tziyon,
as precious as fine gold —
to think they are now worth no more
than clay jars made by a potter!
3 Even jackals bare their breasts
in order to nurse their young,
but the daughters of my people have become as cruel
as ostriches in the desert.
4 The tongue of the baby at the breast
sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst;
young children are begging for bread,
but no one is giving them any.
5 People who once ate only the best
lie dying in the streets;
those who were raised wearing purple
are clawing at piles of garbage.
6 For the offense of the daughter of my people
is greater than the sin of S’dom,
which was overthrown in an instant,
without a hand to help her.
7 Her princes were purer than snow;
they were whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls,
as beautiful as sapphires.
8 Now their faces are blacker than coal;
in the streets they go unrecognized.
Their skin has shriveled over their bones
and become as dry as a stick.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off
than those who are dying from hunger;
since these waste away as if pierced through,
for lack of food from the fields.
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children;
their children became their food
when the daughter of my people was destroyed.
11 Adonai has finished with his fury,
he has poured out his blazing wrath;
he kindled a fire in Tziyon
that consumed its very foundations.
12 The kings of the earth could not believe,
neither could anyone living in the world,
that enemy or foe would ever enter
the gates of Yerushalayim.
13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the offenses of her cohanim,
who, within her walls,
shed the blood of the righteous.
14 They wander in the streets like the blind;
they are so polluted with blood
that nobody is able
even to touch their clothing.
15 “Keep away! Unclean!” people shout at them,
“Keep away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
They flee, to wander here and there;
but no nation allows them to stay.
16 Adonai himself scattered them;
he will no longer look after them;
they had no respect for cohanim
and showed no kindness to the leaders.
17 As for us, our eyes are worn out
from looking in vain for help;
we kept on watching and watching
for a nation that couldn’t save us.
18 They keep dogging our steps,
so that we can’t go out in our streets.
Our end is near, our time is up;
yes, our end has come.
19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles in the sky.
They chased us over the mountains
and waylaid us in the desert.
20 Adonai’s anointed, our life-breath,
was caught in their pits;
though of him we had said, “Under his protection,
we can live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice, be glad, daughter of Edom,
who lives in the land of ‘Utz.
To you too the cup will pass;
you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!
22 Your offenses, daughter of Tziyon, are atoned for;
he will keep you in exile no longer.
Your offenses, daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will expose your sins.
5:1 Remember, Adonai, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless orphans,
our mothers now are widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water;
we have to buy our own wood.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted;
we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.
6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur
to get enough food.
7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist;
we bear the weight of their guilt.
8 We are ruled by slaves,
and there is no one to save us from their power.
9 We get our food at the peril of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skins are as black as a furnace
because of the searing blasts of famine.
11 They have raped the women of Tziyon,
virgins in the cities of Y’hudah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands,
leaders receive no respect.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have deserted the city gate,
the young men have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts,
our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our heads.
Woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 This is why our hearts are sick;
this is why our eyes grow dim —
18 it’s because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted
that jackals have overrun it.
19 You, Adonai, reign forever;
your throne endures through all generations.
20 Why do you never remember us?
Why abandon us for so long a time?
21 Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past —
22 unless you have totally rejected us
in a fury that knows no limits.
[Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past.]
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly friendship continue; 2 but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels. 3 Remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves.
4 Marriage is honorable in every respect; and, in particular, sex within marriage is pure. But God will indeed punish fornicators and adulterers.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, “I will never fail you or abandon you.”[Hebrews 13:5 Deuteronomy 31:6] 6 Therefore, we say with confidence,
“Adonai is my helper; I will not be afraid —
what can a human being do to me?”[Hebrews 13:6 Psalm 118:6]
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke God’s message to you. Reflect on the results of their way of life, and imitate their trust — 8 Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by various strange teachings; for what is good is for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. People who have made these the focus of their lives have not benefited thereby.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not permitted to eat. 11 For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp.[Hebrews 13:11 Leviticus 16:27] 12 So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace. 14 For we have no permanent city here; on the contrary, we seek the one to come. 15 Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually.[Hebrews 13:15 Leviticus 7:12; 22:29; Psalms 50:14, 23; 107:22; 116:17; 2 Chronicles 29:31] For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name.
16 But don’t forget doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your lives, as people who will have to render an account. So make it a task of joy for them, not one of groaning; for that is of no advantage to you.
18 Keep praying for us, for we are certain that we have a clear conscience and want to conduct ourselves properly in everything we do. 19 And all the more I beg you to do this, so that I may be restored to you that much sooner.
20 The God of shalom brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Yeshua, by the blood of an eternal covenant. 21 May that God equip you with every good thing you need to do his will; and may he do in us whatever pleases him, through Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 Now I urge you, brothers, to bear with my message of exhortation; for I have written you only briefly.
23 Know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, I will bring him with me when I come to see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all God’s people. The people from Italy send greetings to you.
25 Grace be with you all.
---
Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Share this email:
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment