The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour "Some Things Are Worth Dying For!" for Monday, October 24, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour "Some Things Are Worth Dying For!" for Monday, October 24, 2016

(Paul said) "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."[2 Timothy 4:7]
There are some things in life worth dying for, wouldn't you agree? In fact, when we get that idea straight in our hearts and minds that often is the beginning of really starting to live, here and now.
For those in our military, that theme is a pretty basic one. For those in law enforcement, that's part of the job too. The soldier goes to battle; the police officer goes to work, both are willing to lay their lives on the line because your life matters to them -- because people's peace and safety matter to them. It's worth the risk!
I was reminded of the fact that there are some things worth dying for when I heard this story. It is a story of the sacrificial friendship of two guys in World War I. They were inseparable. They had enlisted together, trained together, were shipped overseas together, and fought side by side in the trenches. During an attack, one of the men was critically wounded in a field filled with barbed-wire obstacles, and he was unable to crawl back to his foxhole. The entire area was under a withering enemy crossfire, and it was suicidal to try to reach him. Yet his good friend couldn't just leave him there and decided to try and go get him. Before he could get out of his own trench, his sergeant yanked him back inside and ordered him not to go. "It's too late" he said. "You can't do him any good, and you'll only get yourself killed too."
A few minutes later, the officer turned his back, and instantly the man jumped out of his foxhole and took off after his friend. A few minutes later, he staggered back to the foxhole, mortally wounded, with his friend, now dead, in his arms. The sergeant was both angry and deeply moved. "What a waste," he blurted out. "He's dead and now you're dying. It just wasn't worth it."
With almost his last breath, the dying man replied, "Oh, yes, it was, Sarge. When I got to him, the only thing he said was, 'I knew you'd come, Jim! I knew you'd come.'"
One of the great things that makes the Bible unique is the picture it paints of a God who cares for you; not just to comfort you when you are dying, but to give you life and salvation forever in Him. The Bible is a book about God in action for you! Its main message is about a God who comes looking for you when you are lost, a God who sacrifices Himself for you so you might live forever in Him. Just as the Bible says, God the Father sent His Son so that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life! (See John 3:16.)
God said, out of love, "Dying for you ... it was worth it!" Now, that sergeant had a point from his perspective. He lost two good men in that battle. But even on that battlefield there was a bigger issue than just winning a battle for the day. There was the issue of the preciousness of even one life, treating a person's life with love and concern, even though the cost was great. Jim's friend died, but he didn't die alone; he died in the arms of his buddy who loved him. God's promise to you today is in Jesus that is for you by faith, you do not live alone; you will not die alone; you will always be in the loving arms of a Savior who didn't just say it, He proved it. Dying for you, to make eternal life possible -- for Him for you -- it was worth it!
THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, don't let me ever be so consumed with the trivial matters of this life that I forget that life is precious, and there are some things worth living for, even worth dying for. Help me remember what's most important in my life: faith in You and fervent love for others. Amen!

In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz
Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Readings: Jeremiah 18-19; Colossians 3
Jeremiah 18:1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 2 “Get up, and go down to the potter’s house; there I will tell you more.” 3 So I went down to the house of the potter; and there he was, working at the wheels. 4 Whenever a pot he made came out imperfect, the potter took the clay and made another pot with it, in whatever shape suited him.

5 Then the word of Adonai came to me: 6 “House of Isra’el, can’t I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? — says Adonai. Look! You, house of Isra’el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter’s hand. 7 At one time, I may speak about uprooting, breaking down and destroying a nation or kingdom; 8 but if that nation turns from their evil, which prompted me to speak against it, then I relent concerning the disaster I had planned to inflict on it. 9 Similarly, at another time, I may speak about building and planting a nation or kingdom; 10 but if it behaves wickedly from my perspective and doesn’t listen to what I say, then I change my mind and don’t do the good I said I would do that would have helped it.

11 “So now, tell the people of Y’hudah and those living in Yerushalayim that this is what Adonai says:

‘I am designing disaster for you,

working out my plan against you.

Turn, each of you, from his evil ways;

improve your conduct and actions.’

12 “But they will answer, ‘It’s hopeless!

We will stick to our own plans;

each of us will stubbornly follow

his own evil desires!’

13 “Therefore, Adonai says this:

‘Ask among the nations

who has heard anything like this.

The virgin Isra’el has done

a most horrible thing.

14 Does the snow of the L’vanon

disappear from the mountain crags?

Do the cold waters of foreign lands

ever run dry?

15 No, but my people have forgotten me

and offer incense to nothings.

This causes them to stumble

as they walk the ancient paths;

they leave the highway

to walk on side-trails.

16 Thus they make their land an object of horror

and ongoing ridicule.

Passers-by shake their heads,

appalled, every one.

17 Like a strong east wind, I will scatter them

before the enemy.

I will see their back, not their face,

on their day of disaster.’”

18 Then they said, “Let’s develop a plan for dealing with Yirmeyahu. Torah won’t be lost from the cohanim, or counsel from the wise, or words from the prophets. So come, let’s destroy him with slander; and meanwhile, we won’t pay attention to anything he says.”

19 Pay attention to me, Adonai!

Listen to what my opponents are saying!

20 Is good to be repaid with evil?

For they have dug a pit [to trap] me.

Remember how I stood before you

and spoke well of them,

in order to turn your anger

away from them?

21 Therefore, hand their sons over to famine,

hurl them into the power of the sword,

let their wives be made childless and widows,

let their husbands be slain by disease,

let their young men be slain by the sword in battle,

22 let screams be heard from their houses

when you bring raiders on them without warning.

For they have dug a pit to catch me

and have laid snares for my feet.

23 Nevertheless, Adonai, you know

all their plans against me to stop me.

Do not forgive their crime,

do not blot out their sin from your sight;

but let them be made to stumble before you;

deal with them when you are angry.

19:1 Adonai then said, “Go; buy a clay jar from the potter; take some of the people’s leaders and some of the leading cohanim; 2 and go out into the Ben-Hinnom Valley, by the entry to the Potsherd Gate. There you are to proclaim the words I am about to tell you. 3 Say: ‘Hear the word of Adonai, kings of Y’hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “I am about to bring disaster on this place that will make the ears of whoever hears about it ring. 4 This is because they have abandoned me and alienated this place. In it they have offered to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors have known, nor the kings of Y’hudah. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people. 5 They have built the high places of Ba‘al, in order to burn up their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba‘al — something I never ordered or said; it never even entered my mind.

6 “‘“Therefore the time is coming,” says Adonai, “when this place will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 I will nullify the plans of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim in this place. I will have them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hand of those seeking their lives, and I will give their corpses as food for the birds in the air and the wild animals. 8 I will make this city an object of horror and ridicule; everyone passing by will be horrified and will ridicule it because of all its wounds. 9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters; everyone will be eating the flesh of his friends during the siege, because of the shortage imposed on them by their enemies and those set on killing them.”’

10 “Then you are to smash the jar in front of the people who went with you, 11 and say to them, ‘Adonai-Tzva’ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter’s vessel beyond the possibility of repair. The dead will be buried in Tofet, because there will be no space left for burial [anywhere else]. 12 That is what I will do to this place,’ says Adonai ‘and to its inhabitants; I will make it like Tofet. 13 The houses of Yerushalayim and those of the kings of Y’hudah will be defiled like this place Tofet — yes, all the houses on whose roofs they have offered to all the stars in heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”

14 Then Yirmeyahu returned from Tofet, where Adonai had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of Adonai’s house and said to all the people, 15 “This is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘I am bringing on this city and all its surrounding villages all the disaster I have pronounced against it; because they have stiffened their necks and refused to pay attention to my words.’”

Colossians 

3:1 So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God.[Colossians 3:1 Psalm 110:1] 2 Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory!

5 Therefore, put to death the earthly parts of your nature — sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed (which is a form of idolatry); 6 for it is because of these things that God’s anger is coming on those who disobey him. 7 True enough, you used to practice these things in the life you once lived; 8 but now, put them all away — anger, exasperation, meanness, slander and obscene talk. 9 Never lie to one another; because you have stripped away the old self, with its ways, 10 and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator. 11 The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.

14 Above all these, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together perfectly; 15 and let the shalom which comes from the Messiah be your heart’s decision-maker, for this is why you were called to be part of a single Body.

And be thankful — 16 let the Word of the Messiah, in all its richness, live in you, as you teach and counsel each other in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude to God in your hearts. 17 That is, everything you do or say, do in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

18 Wives, subject yourselves to your husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and don’t treat them harshly.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything; for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, don’t irritate your children and make them resentful, or they will become discouraged.

22 Slaves, obey your human masters in everything, not serving only when they are watching you, to win their favor, but single-heartedly, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever work you do, put yourself into it, as those who are serving not merely other people, but the Lord. 24 Remember that as your reward, you will receive the inheritance from the Lord. You are slaving for the Lord, for the Messiah. 25 Don’t worry — whoever is doing wrong will be paid in kind for his wrong, and there is no favoritism shown.

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CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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