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).] "What Not to Believe" Friday, June 17, 2016
... But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.[2 Timothy 1:12b]
Shortly after the Communists came to power in Russia, a writer from England visited that country.
The writer asked a very old man, "Tell me, how does living in the communist system differ from life under the tsar?"
The old man replied, "Before communism came, we used to invite our priest out to the farm to offer a springtime blessing upon the land. But we no longer have to call for the priest or his blessing. We have tractors now."
That old man is not alone in his feelings. In many places our age has seen fertilizer replace faith, potent drugs push aside prayer, leaders leverage out the Lord, and the Savior is swapped for sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists.
Which leads us to ask, whom do you trust? In what do you believe?
Be careful how you answer.
I wonder if unbelievers can still believe in technology when their car sits in the driveway and grinds away without turning over, or when the lights flicker and go out, or when the sump pump stops pumping in the middle of a downpour?
Will they continue to trust the drugs when the doctor says, "What you have has become immune to our medicines"?
In what will they believe? Of what are they absolutely sure?
Can they be positive their job is going to be there a year from now? Are they confident their savings account will maintain its value and the investments they've made will be profitable? In whom can they trust? Their answer -- every person's answer -- is important because the eternal consequences are too overwhelming, if a person puts his confidence in the wrong person or thing.
In answer to all these questions, a voice -- St. Paul's voice -- responds: "But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me."
You know, in our day and age, many people take great pride in their disbelief, distrust and doubt. They work hard at not believing in anybody or anything. That's because just about every time they put their trust out there, they have been let down.
In contrast to such pessimism, we have the positive attitude of St. Paul who is confident in his confession: "I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed."
* Paul believed in the risen Redeemer, who promised to listen to those who come to Him.
* He trusted in the Christ, who had disposed of our sins with His death and resurrection.
* Paul is confident in the Christ, who had promised to be with Him always.
Paul was proud to boast about Jesus because he had seen how Jesus was with him during storm and shipwreck, through pain and persecution. He trusted Jesus, and Jesus never let him down.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, this world is searching for someone or something in whom it can believe. Send Your Holy Spirit and grant the world may look to the Redeemer for direction, forgiveness and salvation. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Today's Bible in a Year Readings: Proverbs 19-21; Acts 3
Proverbs 19:1 Better to be poor and live one’s life uprightly
than engage in crooked speech, for such a one is a fool.
2 To act without knowing how you function is not good;
and if you rush ahead, you will miss your goal.
3 A person’s own folly is what ruins his way,
but he rages in his heart against Adonai.
4 Wealth brings in many friends,
but the poor man loses the one friend he has.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished;
whoever breathes out lies will not escape.
6 Many ask favors of a generous person —
to a giver of gifts, everyone is a friend.
7 A poor man’s relatives all hate him;
even more his friends stay away from him.
He may pursue them with entreaties,
but they aren’t there to be found.
8 To acquire good sense is to love oneself;
to treasure discernment is to prosper.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished;
whoever breathes out lies will perish.
10 It isn’t fitting for a fool to live in luxury,
and even less for a slave to govern princes.
11 People with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense.
12 A king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.
13 A son who is a fool is his father’s ruin,
and a nagging wife is like a leak that keeps dripping.
14 A house and wealth are inherited from ancestors,
but a sensible wife is from Adonai.
15 Laziness makes people fall asleep,
and an idle person will go hungry.
16 He who keeps a mitzvah keeps himself safe,
but he who doesn’t care how he lives will die.
17 He who is kind to the poor is lending to Adonai;
and he will repay him for his good deed.
18 Discipline your child while there is hope,
but don’t get so angry that you kill him!
19 A violent-tempered person will be punished;
if you try to save him from it, you make things worse.
20 Listen to advice, and accept discipline,
so that in the end you will be wise.
21 One can devise many plans in one’s mind,
but Adonai’s plan will prevail.
22 A man’s lust is his shame,
and a poor man is better than a liar.
23 The fear of Adonai leads to life;
one who has it is satisfied and rests untouched by evil.
24 The lazy person buries his hand in the dish
but doesn’t even bother to bring it to his mouth.
25 If you strike a scorner,
the simple will learn to act wisely;
if you reprove the intelligent,
he will understand what you mean.
26 One who mistreats his father and evicts his mother
is a son who brings them shame and disgrace.
27 My son, if you stop heeding discipline,
you will stray from the principles of knowledge.
28 A worthless witness mocks at justice,
and the mouth of the wicked swallows wrongdoing.
29 Judgments are in store for scorners
and blows for the backs of fools.
20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong liquor a rowdy;
anyone led astray by it is unwise.
2 The dread of a king is like when a lion roars;
he who makes him angry commits a life-threatening sin.
3 Avoiding quarrels brings a person honor;
for any fool can explode in anger.
4 A lazy person won’t plow in winter;
so at harvest-time, when he looks, there is nothing.
5 The heart’s real intentions are like deep water;
but a person with discernment draws them out.
6 Most people announce that they show kindness,
but who can find someone faithful [enough to do it]?
7 The righteous live a life of integrity;
happy are their children after them.
8 The king seated on his judgment throne
can winnow out all evil with his glance.
9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,
I am cleansed from my sin”?
10 False weights and false measures —
Adonai detests them both.
11 The character of even a child is known by how he acts,
by whether his deeds are pure and right.
12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye —
Adonai made them both.
13 If you love sleep, you will become poor;
keep your eyes open, and you’ll have plenty of food.
14 “Really bad stuff!” says the buyer [to the seller];
then he goes off and brags [about his bargain].
15 A person may have gold and a wealth of pearls,
but lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.
16 Seize his clothes, because he guaranteed a stranger’s loan;
take them as security for that unknown woman.
17 Food obtained by fraud may taste good,
but later the mouth is full of gravel.
18 After consultation, plans succeed;
so take wise advice when waging war.
19 A gossip goes around revealing secrets,
so don’t get involved with a talkative person.
20 Whoever curses his father or mother —
his lamp will go out in total darkness.
21 Possessions acquired quickly at first
will not be blessed in the end.
22 Don’t say, “I’ll pay back evil for evil”;
wait for Adonai to save you.
23 Adonai detests a double standard in weights,
and false scales are not good.
24 A man’s steps are ordered by Adonai,
so how can a person understand his own ways?
25 It is a snare to dedicate a gift to God rashly
and reflect on the vows only afterwards.
26 A wise king winnows the wicked [from the righteous]
and threshes them under the cartwheel.
27 The human spirit is a lamp of Adonai;
it searches one’s inmost being.
28 Grace and truth preserve a king;
with grace he upholds his throne.
29 The pride of the young is their strength;
the dignity of the old is gray hair.
30 Blows that wound purge away evil,
yes, beatings [cleanse] one’s inmost being.
21:1 The king’s heart in Adonai’s hand is like streams of water —
he directs it wherever he pleases.
2 All a person’s ways are right in his own view,
but Adonai weighs the heart.
3 To do what is right and just
is more pleasing to Adonai than sacrifice.
4 Haughty looks, a proud heart —
what the wicked plow is sin.
5 The plans of the diligent lead only to abundance;
but all who rush in arrive only at want.
6 A fortune gained by a lying tongue
is vapor dispersed [by] seekers of death.
7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away,
because they refuse to act justly.
8 A criminal’s conduct is crooked,
but the work of the pure is right.
9 It is better to live on a corner of the roof
than to share the house with a nagging wife.
10 The wicked is set on evil;
he doesn’t pity even his neighbor.
11 When a scorner is punished, the simple become wiser;
and when the wise is instructed, he takes hold of knowledge.
12 The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked;
he overthrows the wicked to their ruin.
13 Whoever stops up his ears at the cry of the poor
will himself cry, but not be answered.
14 A secret gift allays anger,
and a bribe under the cloak the strongest fury.
15 Acting justly is a joy for the righteous
but it terrifies evildoers.
16 The person who strays from the way of common sense
will come to rest in the company of the dead.
17 Pleasure-lovers will suffer want;
he who loves wine and oil won’t get rich.
18 The wicked serve as a ransom for the righteous,
and likewise the perfidious for the upright.
19 It is better to live in the desert
than with a nagging, irritable wife.
20 In the home of the wise are fine treasures and oil,
but a fool quickly devours it.
21 He who pursues righteousness and kindness
finds life, prosperity and honor.
22 A wise man can go up into a city of warriors
and undermine the strength in which it trusts.
23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
24 “Scoffer” is what you call a proud, insolent person
who acts with overweening conceit.
25 A lazy man’s craving will kill him,
because his hands refuse to work —
26 he covets greedily all day long;
but a righteous person gives without holding back.
27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;
how much more when he brings it with vile motives.
28 A lying witness is doomed,
but one who heard [what was said] will testify successfully.
29 A wicked man puts on a bold face,
whereas the upright prepares his ways.
30 No wisdom, discernment or counsel
succeeds against Adonai.
31 A horse may be prepared for the day of battle,
but victory comes from Adonai.
Acts 3:1 One afternoon at three o’clock, the hour of minchah prayers, as Kefa and Yochanan were going up to the Temple, 2 a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day people used to put him at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so that he could beg from those going into the Temple court. 3 When he saw Kefa and Yochanan about to enter, he asked them for some money. 4 But they stared straight at him; and Kefa said, “Look at us!” 5 The crippled man fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Kefa said, “I don’t have silver, and I don’t have gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua of Natzeret, walk!” 7 And taking hold of him by his right hand, Kefa pulled him up. Instantly his feet and ankles became strong; 8 so that he sprang up, stood a moment, and began walking. Then he entered the Temple court with them, walking and leaping and praising God! 9 Everyone saw him walking and praising God. 10 They recognized him as the same man who had formerly sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were utterly amazed and confounded at what had happened to him. 11 While he clung to Kefa and Yochanan, all the people came running in astonishment toward them in Shlomo’s Colonnade.
12 Seeing this, Kefa addressed the people: “Men of Isra’el! Why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk through some power or godliness of our own? 13 The God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, the God of our fathers,[Acts 3:13 Exodus 3:6, 15] has glorified his servant Yeshua — the same Yeshua you handed over and disowned before Pilate, even after he had decided to release him. 14 You denied the holy and innocent one, and instead asked for the reprieve of a murderer! 15 You killed the author of life!
“But God has raised him from the dead! Of this we are witnesses. 16 And it is through putting trust in his name that his name has given strength to this man whom you see and know. Yes, it is the trust that comes through Yeshua which has given him this perfect healing in the presence of you all.
17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did not understand the significance of what you were doing; neither did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die.
19 “Therefore, repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be erased; 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord’s presence; and he may send the Messiah appointed in advance for you, that is, Yeshua. 21 He has to remain in heaven until the time comes for restoring everything, as God said long ago, when he spoke through the holy prophets. 22 For Moshe himself said, ‘Adonai will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything he tells you. 23 Everyone who fails to listen to that prophet will be removed from the people and destroyed.’[Acts 3:23 Deuteronomy 18:15–16] 24 Indeed, all the prophets announced these days, starting with Sh’mu’el and continuing through all who followed.
25 “You are the sons of the prophets; and you are included in the covenant which God made with our fathers when he said to Avraham, ‘By your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.’[Acts 3:25 Genesis 22:18; 26:4] 26 So it is to you first that God has sent his servant whom he has raised up, so that he might bless you by turning each one of you from your evil ways.”
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CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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