The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States [Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).] "Misguided Intentions" for Tuesday, June 28, 2016
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.[1 John 1:8-9]
It was driving test time for the 73-year-old lady in Ontario.
The instructor was totally prepared to take a nervous golden-ager through the routine. It was something he had done many times before. Yes, he was more than ready to deal with the anxious, uneasy, maybe even panicky candidate.
But he was not prepared to test a lady who appeared to be far younger than 73.
Yes, the woman was dressed like someone who is 73. And, most certainly, the style of glasses the woman wore looked like they might have been chosen by someone who had reached three-score-and-ten. And though he couldn't be absolutely sure, it looked to him like the lady was wearing a wig.
Suspicious, the instructor told his supervisor and the supervisor called the police.
It didn't take much of an investigation to find out the woman was the 39-year-old daughter of the woman who was supposed to be taking the test. When asked for an explanation, the woman said her mother was "too nervous to take the test."
An officer said, "This was ... an out-of-character thing that she did just because she wanted to help her mother out." Yes, the police understood the woman was trying to be nice, but they arrested her because she had impersonated someone else and had falsified official, legal documents.
In other words, she did wrong, trying to do something right.
Over the years, I have seen a great many instances of people who have followed Adam and Eve's example and done something wrong, trying to do something they thought was proper.
Think about it. Each day we commit numerous sins. How many of those sins were done because we said to ourselves, "Today, I'm going to do a lot of really bad stuff"?
Not many.
Think about it. How many times have we been caught with our hand in sin's cookie jar and had our excuse(s) all ready to go? The truth is, we often commit our sins because we think it is best, or advantageous, or might be of help, or make things easier.
Still, no matter how we justify and rationalize things the Lord says, "No matter the good intentions, setting your will above Mine is a bad thing." And, that, my friends, would leave us all without hope.
To give us hope is why the Heavenly Father sent His Son into this world. Jesus' passion, sacrifice, death, and wonderful resurrection are the Lord's way of forgiving all those wrongdoers who have been called to faith. Through His work we have not only hope, but forgiveness and eternal life.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive all the times when I have done wrong under the guise of trying to accomplish a good purpose. Let me give thanks for the Savior whose holy life has produced so many blessed results, including my forgiveness. In His Name I pray it. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Today's Bible in a Year Readings: Ecclesiastes 1-3; Acts 9:1-22
Ecclesiastes 1:1 The words of Kohelet the son of David, king in Yerushalayim:
2 Pointless! Pointless! — says Kohelet —
Utterly meaningless! Nothing matters!
3 What does a person gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?
4 Generations come, generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, the sun sets;
then it speeds to its place and rises there.
6 The wind blows south,
then it turns north;
the wind blows all around
and keeps returning to its rounds.
7 All the rivers flow to the sea,
yet the sea is not full;
to the place where the rivers flow,
there they keep on flowing.
8 Everything is wearisome,
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
the ear not filled up with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new
under the sun.
10 Is there something of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It existed already in the ages before us.
11 No one remembers the people of long ago;
and those to come will not be remembered
by those who come after them.
12 I, Kohelet, have been king over Isra’el in Yerushalayim. 13 I wisely applied myself to seek out and investigate everything done under heaven. What a bothersome task God has given humanity to keep us occupied! 14 I have seen all the activities that are done under the sun, and it’s all pointless, feeding on wind.
15 What is crooked can’t be straightened;
what is not there can’t be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have acquired much wisdom, more than anyone ruling Yerushalayim before me.” Yes, I experienced a great deal of wisdom and knowledge; 17 yet when I applied myself to understanding wisdom and knowledge, as well as stupidity and folly, I came to see that this too was merely feeding on wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief;
the more knowledge, the more suffering.
2:1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test myself with pleasure and enjoying good things”; but this too was pointless. 2 Of laughter I said, “This is stupid,” and of pleasure, “What’s the use of it?”
3 I searched my mind for how to gratify my body with wine and, with my mind still guiding me with wisdom, how to pursue foolishness; my object was to find out what was the best thing for people to do during the short time they have under heaven to live. 4 I worked on a grand scale — I built myself palaces, planted myself vineyards, 5 and made myself gardens and parks; in them I planted all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the trees springing up in the forest. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and I had my home-born slaves as well. I also had growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than anyone before me in Yerushalayim. 8 I amassed silver and gold, the wealth of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, things that provide sensual delight, and a good many concubines. 9 So I grew great, surpassing all who preceded me in Yerushalayim; my wisdom, too, stayed with me. 10 I denied my eyes nothing they wanted. I withheld no pleasure from myself; for I took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward for all my work. 11 Then I looked at all that my hands had accomplished and at the work I had toiled at; and I saw that it was all meaningless and feeding on wind, and that there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
12 So I decided to look more carefully at wisdom, stupidity and foolishness; for what can the man who succeeds the king do, except what has already been done? 13 I saw that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness.
14 The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.
Yet the same fate awaits them all.
15 So I said to myself, “If the same thing happens to the fool as to me, then what did I gain by being wise?” and I thought to myself, “This too is pointless. 16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered, inasmuch as in the times to come, everything will long ago have been forgotten. The wise man, no less than the fool, must die.”
17 So I came to hate life, because the activities done under the sun were loathesome to me, since everything is meaningless and feeding on wind. 18 I hated all the things for which I had worked under the sun, because I saw that I would have to leave them to the man who will come after me. 19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the things I worked for and which demonstrated how wise I am under the sun. This too is pointless. 20 Thus I came to despair over all the things I had worked for under the sun. 21 Here is a man whose work is done with wisdom, knowledge and skill; yet he has to leave it to someone who has put no work into it. This is not only pointless, but a great evil. 22 For what does a person get from all his efforts and ambitions permeating the work he does under the sun? 23 His whole life is one of pain, and his work is full of stress; even at night his mind gets no rest. This too is pointless. 24 So there is nothing better for a man to do than eat, drink and and let himself enjoy the good that results from his work. I also realized that this is from God’s hand. 25 For who will eat and who will enjoy except me? 26 For to the man who is good from [God’s] viewpoint he gives wisdom, knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of collecting and accumulating things to leave to him who is good from God’s viewpoint. This too is pointless and feeding on wind.
3:1 For everything there is a season,
a right time for every intention under heaven
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
7 a time to tear and a time to sew,
a time to keep silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his efforts? 10 I have seen the task God has given humanity to keep us occupied. 11 He has made everything suited to its time; also, he has given human beings an awareness of eternity; but in such a way that they can’t fully comprehend, from beginning to end, the things God does. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them to do than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. 13 Still, the fact that everyone can eat and drink and enjoy the good that results from all his work, is a gift of God. 14 I know that
whatever God does will last forever;
there is nothing to add or subtract from it;
and God has done it so that people will fear him.
15 That which was is here already;
and that which will be has already been,
but God seeks out what people chase after.
16 Another thing I observed under the sun:
There, in the same place as justice, was wickedness;
there, in the same place as righteousness, was wickedness.
17 I said to myself, “The righteous and the wicked God will judge, because there is a right time for every intention and for every action.”
18 Concerning people, I said to myself, “God is testing them, so that they will see that by themselves they are just animals. 19 After all, the same things that happen to people happen to animals, the very same thing — just as the one dies, so does the other. Yes, their breath is the same; so that humans are no better than animals; since nothing matters, anyway. 20 They all go to the same place; they all come from dust, and they all return to dust. 21 Who knows if the spirit of a human being goes upward and the spirit of an animal goes downward into the earth?” 22 So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person to do than take joy in his activities, that that is his allotted portion; for who can enable him to see what will happen after him?
Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Yerushalayim.
3 He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?” 5 “Sir, who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me. 6 But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”
7 The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 They helped Sha’ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek. 9 For three days he remained unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
10 There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 But Hananyah answered, “Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim; 14 and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra’el as well. 16 For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name.”
17 So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, “Brother Sha’ul, the Lord — Yeshua, the one who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh.” 18 In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha’ul’s eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed; 19 then he ate some food and regained his strength.
Sha’ul spent some days with the talmidim in Dammesek, 20 and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God. 21 All who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn’t that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head cohanim?” 22 But Sha’ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah.
-------CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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