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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
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"Never Alone"
Monday, June 12, 2017
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV) - Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Home alone. Do you remember those movies? I really liked them, especially Home Alone 1 and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The movie was about this little boy who always seems to get left behind when the family goes on a vacation. The family always makes it to the destination and he somehow gets left behind, left to fend for himself on his own. But when you get right down to it, the point of the movies is that he's never alone. He always has the love of his family, even the resources of his dad and mom, resources that allow him to deal with whatever seems to come against him. Home alone, even then, no, he wasn't totally by himself.
Sometimes I think that we Christians forget that we are never alone. Sometimes we get this feeling that just because things aren't going the way we'd hope they would at the moment that somehow God has left us to our own devices. Sometimes it might come from the stark reality that we've gotten lost from Him, disconnected, even left Him, as if we could make it by ourselves. Today's lesson calls us to dismiss that erroneous notion completely. Even as human beings, seemingly on our own, the Bible teaches that even then, we live, move, and have our very being because we are created in the image of God. Our rebellion, our sin, our willingness to go our own way would be like our Home Alone character trying to buy food without His dad's credit cards, with only the money in his pocket (not much), to sleep in a house that he provides on His own terms, as if he could. Can you say, homeless alone, or to protect himself with only the wits and strength of a ten-year-old in New York City or Chicago. Yikes! If that were the case, the movies would have had a very different ending than they do. Thank God, he realized that through it all, in spite of his foolishness and childishness, he knew and was thankful for the love of his parents, their protection, their blessing.
Jesus gets even more personal with us today. However things go in this life, in fact, even when you might not have a father and a mother who give you the love and resources you might need, Jesus Himself calls you to the exciting adventure of living life with Him, living it as His people for others. He gives you forgiveness, life, salvation, faith, joy, peace, and even His love as blessings to be received and resources to share. Wow! And then He makes this incredible statement to those who believe in Him: He himself will be with us always. You are never, ever alone when you are His people. Get it! This isn't the mushy ending of a holiday movie. This is so much more. It is the reality that through it all, there is One who will never let you down, who will never leave you to your own devices, who will be there for you with His wisdom through the Bible, with His presence through the Word and Sacraments, with an empowering Holy Spirit that will encourage, comfort, and strengthen you to live boldly, now and forever. Home alone, no, never alone, and always at home with Jesus Christ who lived for me and you, lives with us, and even lives in us until He brings us home with Him face to face.THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, there are times when I do feel all alone, by myself. Give me strength to look again to You through the gifts of Your Word and Sacraments so that I can not only deal with such things, but realize that when You are with me, I'm never ever on my own. And please open me up, even now, to see the possibilities of friendship and camaraderie all around me in Your Name. Amen.
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Proverbs 5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;incline your ear to my understanding;
2 so that you will preserve discretion
and your lips keep watch over knowledge.
3 For the lips of a woman who is a stranger drop honey,
her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
her steps lead straight to Sh’ol;
6 she doesn’t walk the level path of life —
her course wanders all over, but she doesn’t know it.
7 So now, children, listen to me;
don’t turn away from what I am saying:
8 distance your way from her,
stay far from the door of her house;
9 so that you won’t give your vigor to others
and your years to someone who is cruel,
10 so strangers won’t be filled with your strength
and what you worked for go to a foreign house.
11 Then, when your flesh and bones have shrunk,
at the end of your life, you would moan,
12 “How I hated discipline!
My whole being despised reproof,
13 I ignored what my teachers said,
I didn’t listen to my instructors.
14 I took part in almost every kind of evil,
and the whole community knew it.”
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,
fresh water from your own well.
16 Let what your springs produce be dispersed outside,
streams of water flowing in the streets;
17 but let them be for you alone
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain, the wife of your youth,
be blessed; find joy in her —
19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn;
let her breasts satisfy you at all times,
always be infatuated with her love.
20 My son, why be infatuated with an unknown woman?
Why embrace the body of a loose woman?
21 For Adonai is watching a man’s ways;
he surveys all his paths.
22 A wicked person’s own crimes will trap him,
he will be held fast by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die from lack of discipline;
the magnitude of his folly will make him totter and fall.
6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your friend,
if you committed yourself on behalf of another;
2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth,
caught by the words of your own mouth.
3 Do this now, my son, and extricate yourself,
since you put yourself in your friend’s power:
go, humble yourself, and pester your friend;
4 give your eyes no sleep,
give your eyelids no rest;
5 break free, like a gazelle from the [hunter’s] trap,
like a bird from the grip of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones!
Consider its ways, and be wise.
7 It has no chief, overseer or ruler;
8 yet it provides its food in summer
and gathers its supplies at harvest-time.
9 Lazybones! How long will you lie there in bed?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 “I’ll just lie here a bit, rest a little longer,
just fold my hands for a little more sleep” —
11 and poverty comes marching in on you,
scarcity hits you like an invading soldier.
12 A scoundrel, a vicious man,
lives by crooked speech,
13 winking his eyes, shuffling his feet,
pointing with his fingers.
14 With deceit in his heart,
he is always plotting evil and sowing discord.
15 Therefore disaster suddenly overcomes him;
unexpectedly, he is broken beyond repair.
16 There are six things Adonai hates,
seven which he detests:
17 a haughty look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet swift in running to do evil,
19 a false witness who lies with every breath,
and him who sows strife among brothers.
20 My son, obey your father’s command,
and don’t abandon your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart,
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you wake up, they will talk with you.
23 For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah is light,
and reproofs that discipline are the way to life.
24 They keep you from an evil woman,
from a loose woman’s seductive tongue.
25 Don’t let your heart lust after her beauty
or allow her glance to captivate you.
26 The price of a whore is a loaf of bread,
but the adulteress is hunting for a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire inside his shirt
without burning his clothes?
28 Can a man walk [barefoot] on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So is he who has sex with his neighbor’s wife;
anyone touching her will be punished.
30 A thief is not despised if he steals
only to satisfy his appetite when hungry;
31 but even he, if caught, must pay back sevenfold;
he may have to give up all the wealth that he owns.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get nothing but blows and contempt,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy drives a man into a rage;
he will show no mercy when he takes revenge;
35 he will not accept compensation;
he’ll refuse every bribe, no matter how large.
7:1 My son, keep my words,
store up my commands with you.
2 Obey my commands, and live;
guard my teaching like the pupil of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”;
call understanding your kinswoman;
5 so that they can keep you from unknown women,
from loose women with their seductive talk.
6 For I was at the window of my house,
glancing out through the lattice,
7 when I saw among the young men there,
among those who don’t think for themselves,
a young fellow devoid of all sense.
8 He crosses the street near her corner
and continues on toward her house.
9 Dusk turns into evening,
and finally night, dark and black.
10 Then a woman approaches him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
11 She’s the coarse, impulsive type,
whose feet don’t stay at home;
12 rather, she stalks the streets and squares,
lurking at every streetcorner.
13 She grabs him, gives him a kiss,
and, brazen-faced, she says to him,
14 “I had to offer peace sacrifices,
and I fulfilled my vows today.
15 This is why I came out to meet you,
to look for you; now I’ve found you.
16 I’ve spread quilts on my couch
made of colored Egyptian linen.
17 I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come on, let’s make love till morning;
we’ll enjoy making love.
19 My husband isn’t at home,
he’s gone on a long trip;
20 he took a bag of money with him
and won’t be back till the moon is full.”
21 With all her sweet talk she convinces him,
enticing him with her seductive words.
22 At once he follows her
like an ox on its way to be slaughtered;
like a fool to be punished in the stocks;
23 or like a bird rushing into a trap,
not knowing its life is at stake
till an arrow pierces its liver.
24 So now, children, listen to me;
pay attention to what I am saying.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways;
don’t stray onto her paths.
26 For many are those she has struck down dead,
numerous those she has killed.
27 Her house is the way to Sh’ol;
it leads down to the halls of death.
3 Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa and reached the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Shim‘on Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there, 7 also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up. 8 Then the other talmid, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted. 9 (They had not yet come to understand that the Tanakh teaches that the Messiah has to rise from the dead.)
10 So the talmidim returned home, 11 but Miryam stood outside crying. As she cried, she bent down, peered into the tomb, 12 and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 “Why are you crying?” they asked her. “They took my Lord,” she said to them, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 As she said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t know it was he. 15 Yeshua said to her, “Lady, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you’re the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and I’ll go and get him myself.” 16 Yeshua said to her, “Miryam!” Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, “Rabbani!” (that is, “Teacher!”) 17 “Stop holding onto me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Miryam of Magdala went to the talmidim with the news that she had seen the Lord and that he had told her this.
19 In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the talmidim were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the Judeans, Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” 20 Having greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side. The talmidim were overjoyed to see the Lord. 21 “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated. “Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.” 22 Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Ruach HaKodesh! 23 If you forgive someone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you hold them, they are held.”
24 Now T’oma (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came. 25 When the other talmidim told him, “We have seen the Lord,” he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe it.”
26 A week later his talmidim were once more in the room, and this time T’oma was with them. Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” 27 Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!” 28 T’oma answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Yeshua said to him, “Have you trusted because you have seen me? How blessed are those who do not see, but trust anyway!”
30 In the presence of the talmidim Yeshua performed many other miracles which have not been recorded in this book. 31 But these which have been recorded are here so that you may trust that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by this trust you may have life because of who he is.
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
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