Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "Being Washed" for Saturday, 6 June 2015

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "Being Washed" for Saturday, 6 June 2015 

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.[1 Corinthians 6:11]
Years ago, Pam and I were leading a Christian tour to Egypt.
We, along with our fellow travelers, were awed by the sights and sounds of that wonderful country of past power. There was one thing which didn't impress many of the "cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness" travelers. They were taken somewhat aback by the dust and dirt that seemed to be encountered everywhere. One lady, who was either more offended or more outspoken than the rest, was shocked when she saw a particularly dirty child playing on what looked to be a village garbage dump.
She complained to those around her: "Why doesn't her mother do something to clean up her little girl?"
Our guide, a native Egyptian sitting in the front seat of the bus, overheard her question. Calmly, he reached over and took up the microphone used to broadcast his narratives throughout the coach. Without any venom in his voice, he calmly said, "Ladies and gentlemen, someone has asked the question why would a mother allow her daughter to get so dirty?"
"I can only tell you this: visitors to our country hate dirt, but they don't know or love the little children. Mothers of our country know and love their little children, but don't hate the dirt. Until love for a child and hatred for dirt come together in one person, these dirty children you see are likely to remain as they are."
The bus got quiet after that, quiet for a long time.
Partly things got quiet because we were embarrassed that the question had been overheard, and partly it was because we had felt we had been quite rightly reprimanded. But most of us were quiet because we knew what the guide had said was profoundly true.
The guide's words are true for the world, and they're true for each of us. For positive changes to happen in our lives, hatred of that which is evil -- and the power to remove that evil -- must be joined together.
Please let me explain. Almost everyone in the world knows he is filthy with sin. Most of us hate the evil we do, but we are powerless to do anything about it. If you look at most of the world's religions, you will see "deities" who say they have the power to change their followers, but they are disinclined to do so. For that reason the followers of those religions feel they must somehow, in some way, do something to work their way up and earn peace with their god.
But Christianity is different -- and unique.
The Triune God is furious with us for our disobedience and manifold transgressions. He has told us the soul that sins will die, both temporally and eternally. Yes, God hates our sin, but He is never content to let us stay in our sin.
So that we might be saved, God sent His Son into this world.
In the Person of Jesus, hatred of sin and love for transgressors came together. Through His life, His sacrifice, His substitution for sinners; by Jesus' suffering, death and glorious resurrection all who believe on Him are saved. Our dirt has been washed away because justice and grace have come together in the Triune God.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks that in Jesus I have all that I need to be saved. May my life show my gratitude for His work, by which I am cleansed and rescued. 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 109:(0) For the leader. A psalm of David:

(1) God, whom I praise, don’t remain silent!

2 For wicked and deceitful men

have opened their mouths against me,

spoken against me with lying tongues,

3 surrounded me with hateful words,

and attacked me without cause.

4 In return for my love they became my accusers,

even though I prayed for them.

5 They repay me evil for good

and hatred for my love.

6 [They say,] “Appoint a wicked man over him,

may an accuser stand at his right.

7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,

may even his plea be counted a sin.

8 May his days be few,

may someone else take his position.

9 May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

10 May his children be wandering beggars,

foraging for food from their ruined homes.

11 May creditors seize all he owns

and strangers make off with his earnings.

12 May no one treat him kindly,

and may no one take pity on his orphaned children.

13 May his posterity be cut off;

may his name be erased within a generation.

14 May the wrongs of his ancestors be remembered by Adonai,

and may the sin of his mother not be erased;

15 may they always be before Adonai,

so he can cut off all memory of them from the earth.

16 For he did not remember to show kindness

but hounded the downtrodden, the poor

and the brokenhearted to death.

17 He loved cursing; may it recoil on him!

He didn’t like blessing; may it stay far from him!

18 He clothed himself with cursing

as routinely as with his coat;

May it enter inside him as easily as water,

as easily as oil into his bones.

19 May it cling to him like the coat he wears,

like the belt he wraps around himself.”

20 This is what my adversaries want Adonai to do,

those who speak evil against me.

21 But you, God, Adonai,

treat me as your name demands;

rescue me, because your grace is good.

22 For I am poor and needy,

and my heart within me is wounded.

23 Like a lengthening evening shadow, I am gone;

I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees are weak from lack of food,

my flesh wastes away for lack of nourishment.

25 I have become the object of their taunts;

when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, Adonai, my God!

Save me, in keeping with your grace;

27 so that they will know that this comes from your hand,

that you, Adonai, have done it.

28 Let them go on cursing;

but you, bless!

When they attack, let them be put to shame;

but let your servant rejoice.

29 Let my adversaries be clothed with confusion,

let them wear their own shame like a robe.

30 I will eagerly thank Adonai with my mouth,

I will praise him right there in the crowd,

31 because he stands alongside a needy person

to defend him from unjust accusers.

110:(0) A psalm of David:

(1) Adonai says to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies

your footstool.”

2 Adonai will send your powerful scepter

out from Tziyon,

so that you will rule over

your enemies around you.

3 On the day your forces mobilize,

your people willingly offer themselves

in holy splendors from the womb of the dawn;

the dew of your youth is yours.

4 Adonai has sworn it,

and he will never retract —

“You are a cohen forever,

to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.”

5 Adonai at your right hand

will shatter kings on the day of his anger.

6 He will pass judgment among the nations,

filling it with dead bodies;

he will shatter heads

throughout an extensive territory.

7 He will drink from a stream as he goes on his way;

therefore he will hold his head high.

138:1 (0) By David:

(1) I give you thanks with all my heart.

Not to idols, but to you I sing praise.

2 I bow down toward your holy temple

and give thanks to your name for your grace and truth;

    for you have made your word [even] greater

    than the whole of your reputation.

3 When I called, you answered me,

you made me bold and strong.

4 All the kings of the earth will thank you, Adonai,

when they hear the words you have spoken.

5 They will sing about Adonai’s ways,

“Great is the glory of Adonai!”

6 For though Adonai is high, he cares for the lowly;

while the proud he perceives from afar.

7 You keep me alive when surrounded by danger;

you put out your hand when my enemies rage;

with your right hand you save me.

8 Adonai will fulfill his purpose for me.

Your grace, Adonai, continues forever.

Don’t abandon the work of your hands!

John 16:1 “I have told you these things so that you won’t be caught by surprise. 2 They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when anyone who kills you will think he is serving God! 3 They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor me. 4 But I have told you this, so that when the time comes for it to happen, you will remember that I told you. I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to the One who sent me.

“Not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Instead, because I have said these things to you, you are overcome with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don’t go away, the comforting Counselor will not come to you. However, if I do go, I will send him to you.

8 “When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment — 9 about sin, in that people don’t put their trust in me; 10 about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged.

12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. 14 He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you.

16 “In a little while, you will see me no more; then, a little while later, you will see me.” 17 At this, some of the talmidim said to one another, “What is this that he’s telling us, ‘In a little while, you won’t see me; then, a little while later, you will see me’? and, ‘I am going to the Father’?” 18 They went on saying, “What is this ‘little while’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

19 Yeshua knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you asking each other what I meant by saying, ‘In a little while, you won’t see me; and then, a little while later, you will see me’? 20 Yes, it’s true. I tell you that you will sob and mourn, and the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she is in pain; because her time has come. But when the baby is born, she forgets her suffering out of joy that a child has come into the world. 22 So you do indeed feel grief now, but I am going to see you again. Then your hearts will be full of joy, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23 “When that day comes, you won’t ask anything of me! Yes, indeed! I tell you that whatever you ask from the Father, he will give you in my name. 24 Till now you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Keep asking, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

25 “I have said these things to you with the help of illustrations; however, a time is coming when I will no longer speak indirectly but will talk about the Father in plain language. 26 When that day comes, you will ask in my name. I am not telling you that I will pray to the Father on your behalf, 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

28 “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.”

29 The talmidim said to him, “Look, you’re talking plainly right now, you’re not speaking indirectly at all. 30 Now we know that you know everything, and that you don’t need to have people put their questions into words. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

31 Yeshua answered, “Now you do believe. 32 But a time is coming — indeed it has come already — when you will be scattered, each one looking out for himself; and you will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone; because the Father is with me.

33 “I have said these things to you so that, united with me, you may have shalom. In the world, you have tsuris. But be brave! I have conquered the world!”

The Lutheran Hour
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St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
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