by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
- Thursday, August 31, 2017 "The Truth"
Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries b
y Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
"The Truth" for thursday,
August 31, 2017
Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
I don't know about you, but most of us have a hard time answering that question with a simple yes. Now we might be willing to tell the whole truth in a great many matters, but there are questions that we simply wouldn't, or couldn't, answer completely truthfully (examples: private confessions and confidences entrusted to us).
But there is more. The truth is all of us are liars. While some folks do their absolute best to tell the truth, there are others who choose to lie when there's no logical reason to do so. I guess we inherit our propensity for lying from our first ancestors. After Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, the Lord questioned both of them about what had happened.
Neither of them could tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We can't either.
Maybe that's why the Associated Press has begun a weekly fact check in which it investigates stories that everybody is telling and everyone knows to be true. The problem is this: the AP is finding there are a lot of lies posing as the truth. Need an example? Fine. In the week before this devo was written the AP exposed some internet stories, you know, stories like
1. President Trump had shut down jihad training camps in Islamberg, New York;
2. U.S. companies that sell olive oil are diluting their product with sunflower or canola oil;
3. Wisconsin is building a wall to keep out Illinois residents.
The AP found that those totally false internet stories had been repeatedly shared by well-intentioned folks who thought the tall tales were true. You see, it's difficult for us to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but, you know, the truth.
The one Individual who is the exception to that rule is our Lord and Savior. Look at Jesus in His trials. False witnesses were brought in to accuse Him, but He offered no explanation or excuse. Instead of making a defense, He chose to make no defense, and the Savior kept His mouth shut.
Until ... until the high priest stumbled upon the one question Jesus couldn't ignore. You can find it in Matthew 26:63b where it says, "And the high priest said to him, 'I adjure You by the living God, tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus said to him, 'You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"
There are some critics of Christianity who say that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah and the Savior. Those critics are wrong. Matthew says it plainly: Jesus always told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: He is the Christ, the Son of God.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive my lies and grant me a boldness to confront and confess my transgressions. Then, having been forgiven, may I move forward and share the true Savior with all those around me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by the AP as a weekly feature of news which didn't happen. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: 2 Chronicles 15-16; 2 Corinthians 5
2 Chronicles 15:1 The Spirit of God came on ‘Azaryah the son of ‘Oded; 2 he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Y’hudah and Binyamin! Adonai is with you, as long as you are with him; if you seek him, you will find him; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you! 3 For a long time Isra’el was without the true God, without a cohen who could teach, and without Torah. 4 But when, in their distress, they turned to Adonai the God of Isra’el and sought him, they found him. 5 In those times people going about their business were insecure, and great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands; 6 so that they were shattered to pieces, nation against nation and city against city, as God troubled them with every kind of distress. 7 But you, be strong, and don’t slack off; for your work will be rewarded.”
8 When Asa heard these words prophesied by ‘Oded the prophet, it gave him courage to throw the disgusting things out of the whole land of Y’hudah and Binyamin and out of the cities he had captured in the hills of Efrayim; he also renewed the altar of Adonai which was in front of the vestibule of Adonai. 9 Then he gathered all Y’hudah and Binyamin, along with those from Efrayim, M’nasheh and Shim‘on who were staying with him (for they had defected to him in large numbers upon seeing that Adonai his God was with him). 10 They assembled together at Yerushalayim in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 That day they sacrificed to Adonai 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought; 12 and they entered into a covenant to seek Adonai, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their being; 13 [they also agreed] that whoever refused to seek Adonai the God of Isra’el should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. 14 They swore this to Adonai in a loud voice, with shouting and blowing of trumpets and shofars. 15 All Y’hudah was full of joy at this oath; for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with all their will; and they found him, and Adonai gave them rest all around.
16 Asa the king also deposed Ma‘akhah his [grand]mother from her position as queen mother, because she had made a disgusting image for an asherah. Asa cut down this image of hers, chopped it into tiny pieces and burned it in Vadi Kidron. 17 But the high places were not removed from Isra’el. Nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted throughout his life. 18 He brought into the house of God all the articles his father had consecrated, also the things he himself had consecrated — silver, gold and utensils.
19 There was no more war through the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Ba‘asha king of Isra’el attacked Y’hudah, and he fortified Ramah to prevent anyone’s leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Y’hudah. 2 Then Asa removed silver and gold from the treasures of the house of Adonai and the royal palace; and sent this message to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Dammesek: 3 “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Here, I am sending you silver and gold; go, and break your covenant with Ba‘asha king of Isra’el, so that he will leave me alone.” 4 Ben-Hadad did as King Asa had asked — he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Isra’el, attacking ‘Iyon, Dan, Avel-Mayim and all the storage-cities of Naftali. 5 As soon as Ba‘asha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. 6 Asa the king took all Y’hudah and carried off the stones and timber which Ba‘asha had used to fortify Ramah. With them he fortified Geva and Mitzpah.
7 It was around then that Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Y’hudah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and didn’t rely on Adonai your God, the king of Aram’s army has escaped from your power. 8 The army of the Ethiopians and Luvim was huge, wasn’t it? How many chariots and horsemen did they have? Yet because you relied on Adonai, he handed them over to you. 9 For the eyes of Adonai move here and there throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those who are wholehearted toward him. You acted foolishly in this regard; for from now on, you will have war.” 10 But Asa became angry at the seer; in fact, because of his rage at him over this matter he threw him in prison. Moreover, at the same time, he mistreated some of the people.
11 The activities of Asa from beginning to end are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah and Isra’el.
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a disease in his legs. It was a very serious disease, yet even with this disease he did not seek out Adonai but turned to the physicians. 13 Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in his own burial cave, which he had ordered cut for himself in the City of David. They laid him in a bed filled with sweet spices of various kinds, expertly compounded; and a very great fire was kindled in his honor.
2 Corinthians 5:1 We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from God, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven. 2 For in this tent, our earthly body, we groan with desire to have around us the home from heaven that will be ours. 3 With this around us we will not be found naked. 4 Yes, while we are in this body, we groan with the sense of being oppressed: it is not so much that we want to take something off, but rather to put something on over it; so that what must die may be swallowed up by the Life. 5 Moreover, it is God who has prepared us for this very thing, and as a pledge he has given us his Spirit.
6 So we are always confident — we know that so long as we are at home in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord; 7 for we live by trust, not by what we see. 8 We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the Lord.
9 Therefore, whether at home or away from home, we try our utmost to please him; 10 for we must all appear before the Messiah’s court of judgment, where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body.
11 So it is with the fear of the Lord before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, God knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are. 12 We are not recommending ourselves to you again but giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about a person’s appearance rather than his inner qualities. 13 If we are insane, it is for God’s sake; and if we are sane, it is for your sake. 14 For the Messiah’s love has hold of us, because we are convinced that one man died on behalf of all mankind (which implies that all mankind was already dead), 15 and that he died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised. 16 So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! 18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, 19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! 21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
-------Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Share this email:
No comments:
Post a Comment