Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Worthy of Fame and Worship" for Wednesday, January 10, 2018
1 Peter 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Pam and I were standing in the Cairo, Egypt, railroad station when I noticed a lady staring at me and pointing me out to her two-year-old-son. I wondered if she had recognized me as the Speaker on The Lutheran Hour. No such luck. She was laughing as she pointed to my silly looking bare knees in shorts.
I should share that it was 100 degrees, and she was covered from head-to-toe in black velvet, and her son was sitting in a galvanized wash tub, which she was balancing on her head. Even so, to her I was the funny one. Who knows, she may have been right.
I do know any thought of worldwide fame was left behind at that old railroad depot.
I'm not the first. In 1865, Thomas Sayers died. Have you ever heard of him? I thought not. His name might not be familiar to you, but Mr. Sayers, a bare-knuckle boxer, was the most famous athlete of Victorian England. When he died, more than 150,000 people came to his farewell at London's Highgate Cemetery. He once was famous, but now he's forgotten.
Fame. Recently, the BBC did a report on how to achieve lasting fame. They came up with advice which, they felt, might increase your chances of being remembered 1,000 years hence.
They suggested things like emulating Alexander the Great of Macedon who took historians with him to record his conquests. Like him, they said you should try to manage your image.
Choose your career wisely. Be a politician who will change people's futures over becoming a composer whose music can easily become unfashionable.
Be lucky like Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Even though King Tut was a minor ruler who accomplished little, his grave was forgotten and left unplundered. Today, he is more famous than the many of the greatest of the pharaohs.
Before the BBC article closed, they said, and I quote: "Found a religion, There's mountains of evidence that Jesus Christ, Siddhartha Gautama (also known as Buddha), and many more religious leaders were real people, though they died many millennia ago ..."
Now I can't argue with the BBC. They are right. Jesus, like the others, did die a long time ago. But, unlike the others, Jesus didn't stay dead. Three days after His lifeless body was placed into a borrowed tomb, He rose from the dead and showed to the world that the Father's gracious plan to save humanity was completed.
With His resurrection from the dead, the Savior showed that He was unique in the history of the world. Not only should He be famous and worthy of remembering, He should also be worshipped. That's what Peter was saying when he wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, we give thanks that Jesus, the Man, has not been forgotten by the world. Now, by the Spirit's power, may doubters believe in Jesus as God's Son -- their Savior. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Zaria Gorvett on December 21, 2017 for the BBC. 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: Job 3-4; Matthew 8:1-17
Job 3:1 (2) Iyov said,2 (3) “Perish the day I was born
and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’
3 (4) May that day be darkness,
may God on high not seek it,
may no light shine on it,
4 (5) may gloom dark as death defile it,
may clouds settle on it,
may it be terrified by its own blackness.
5 (6) “As for that night, may thick darkness seize it,
may it not be joined to the days of the year,
may it not be numbered among the months;
6 (7) may that night be desolate,
may no cry of joy be heard in it;
7 (8) may those who curse days curse it,
those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan;
8 (9) may the stars of its twilight be dark,
may it look for light but get none,
may it never see the shimmer of dawn —
9 (10) because it didn’t shut the doors of the womb I was in
and shield my eyes from trouble.
10 (11) “If I had been stillborn,
if I had died at birth,
11 (12) had there been no knees to receive me
or breasts for me to suck.
12 (13) Then I would be lying still and in peace,
I would have slept and been at rest,
13 (14) along with kings and their earthly advisers,
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
14 (15) or with princes who had [plenty of] gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
15 (16) Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried
child that never saw light.
16 (17) “There the wicked cease their raging,
there the weary are at rest,
17 (18) prisoners live at peace together
without hearing a taskmaster’s yells.
18 (19) Great and small alike are there,
and the slave is free of his master.
19 (20) “So why must light be given to the miserable
and life to the bitter in spirit?
20 (21) They long for death, but it never comes;
they search for it more than for buried treasure;
21 (22) when at last they find the grave,
they are so happy they shout for joy.
22 (23) [Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly,
whom God shuts in on every side?
23 (24) “My sighing serves in place of my food,
and my groans pour out in a torrent;
24 (25) for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me,
what I dreaded has happened to me.
25 (26) I have no peace, no quiet, no rest;
and anguish keeps coming.”
4:1 Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke up:
2 “If one tries to speak to you, will you mind?
Yet who could keep from speaking?
3 You have given moral instruction to many,
you have firmed up feeble hands,
4 your words have supported those who were stumbling,
and you have strengthened the weak-kneed.
5 “But now it comes to you, and you are impatient;
at the first touch, you are in shock.
6 Isn’t your fear of God your assurance,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Think back: what innocent person has perished?
Since when are the upright destroyed?
8 What I see is that those who plow sin
and sow trouble reap just that.
9 At a breath from God, they perish;
at a blast from his anger, they are consumed.
10 The lion may growl, the king lion may roar,
but that old lion’s teeth are broken;
11 so the lion succumbs from lack of prey,
and the lion’s cubs are scattered.
12 “For a word was stealthily brought to me,
my ear caught only a whisper of it.
13 In passing thoughts flashing through visions at night,
when sleep lies heavy on people,
14 a shiver of horror came over me;
it made all my bones tremble.
15 Then a spirit passed in front of my face;
the hair of my flesh stood on end.
16 It stood still,
but I couldn’t make out its appearance;
yet the form stayed there before my eyes.
Then I heard a subdued voice:
17 ‘Can a human be seen by God as righteous?
Can a mortal be pure before his maker?
18 [God] doesn’t trust his own servants,
he finds fault even with his angels;
19 much more those living in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust.
They are crushed more easily than a worm;
20 shattered between morning and evening;
they perish forever, and no one takes notice.
21 Their cord within them is pulled up;
then they die, without ever gaining wisdom.’
Matthew 8:1 After Yeshua had come down from the hill, large crowds followed him. 2 Then a man afflicted with tzara‘at came, kneeled down in front of him and said, “Sir, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Yeshua reached out his hand, touched him and said, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” And at once he was cleansed from his tzara‘at. 4 Then Yeshua said to him, “See that you tell no one; but as a testimony to the people, go and let the cohen examine you, and offer the sacrifice that Moshe commanded.”
5 As Yeshua entered K’far-Nachum, a Roman army officer came up and pleaded for help. 6 “Sir, my orderly is lying at home paralyzed and suffering terribly!” 7 Yeshua said, “I will go and heal him.” 8 But the officer answered, “Sir, I am unfit to have you come into my home. Rather, if you will only give the command, my orderly will recover. 9 For I too am a man under authority. I have soldiers under me, and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 On hearing this Yeshua was amazed and said to the people following him, “Yes! I tell you, I have not found anyone in Isra’el with such trust! 11 Moreover, I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west to take their places at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven with Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov. 12 But those born for the Kingdom will be thrown outside in the dark, where people will wail and grind their teeth!” 13 Then Yeshua said to the officer, “Go; let it be for you as you have trusted.” And his orderly was healed at that very moment.
14 Yeshua went to Kefa’s home and there saw Kefa’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she got up and began helping him.
16 When evening came, many people held in the power of demons were brought to him. He expelled the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill. 17 This was done to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Yesha‘yahu,
“He himself took our weaknesses
and bore our diseases”[Matthew 8:17 Isaiah 53:4]
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CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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