God loves and favors you!
When people love you, it’s good when they can find ways to express that love. It’s one thing to say “I love you,” and another thing to live it. When someone in authority favors you, it’s good when they can find ways to express that favor. It’s good to be favored, but it’s even better to gain something because of that favor.
When God loves and favors you, it’s not because you have met the standards he has set. The only standard that makes sense to God is perfection, and we don’t meet it. So when he loves us and favors us, despite our being unworthy, we have a special term for that love and favor. We call it “grace.”
How does God show us his grace? He does it by promising things to us and then delivering on the promises. The promises of God are the “means,” the way he shows us his grace, definitely and personally.
It’s strange, but when we hear that “God loves the world” (John 3:16), we aren’t always sure that we are included. Did God send his Son for us, personally? We should be sure, but just to help us along, God applies the promises of his love personally to us in the sacrament of baptism; “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)
When we hear, “God reconciled the whole world to himself, not counting anyone’s sin against them,” (2 Corinthians 5:19), how can we be sure that our own sins are personally forgiven through faith in Jesus? We should be sure, but just to help us along, God applies the promises of his grace personally to us in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ” (Matthew 26:28).
The means of grace are God’s promises in Word and sacrament.
September 29, 2009
EVERYDAY Videos for Teens
The Everyday video series is a chance to explore real-life situations many teens face, and how to deal with them as dearly loved children of God. Some are meant to make you think. Others are meant to clearly show you the way. All of them, God-willing, will draw you into a closer, deeper relationship with your Savior, Jesus. That’s what He wants everyday. That’s what we need everyday. By the power of the Spirit, that’s what we seek everyday.
September 27, 2009
Hymn: Earth and All Stars
Earth and all stars! Loud rushing planets! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Oh, victory! Loud shouting army! Sing to the Lord a new song!
He has done marvelous things.
I, too, will praise him with a new song!
Hail, wind and rain! Loud blowing snowstorms! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Flowers and trees! Loud rustling dry leaves! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Trumpet and pipes! Loud clashing cymbals! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Harp, lute, and lyre! Loud humming cellos! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Knowledge and truth! Loud sounding wisdom! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Daughter and son! Loud praying members! Sing to the Lord a new song!
Children of God, dying and rising, sing to the Lord a new song!
Heaven and earth, Hosts everlasting, sing to the Lord a new song!
He has done marvelous things.
I, too, will praise him with a new song!
by Herbert F. Brokering
September 26, 2009
Remember the Power You Have
One of Obi-wan Kenobi’s most difficult tasks in training Luke Skywalker to be a true Jedi knight was to help him access all his resources. “Use the Force, Luke!” Obi-wan would exhort him.
We all know that this talk of “the Force” is just space mythology cooked up by George Lucas, right? You don’t have a Force within you.
Or do you? George Lucas was perhaps closer than he realized to a powerful truth of authentic Christianity: the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, comes to live within the hearts of all believers when they are baptized. Scripture promises that your baptism is a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is power from God for thinking, saying, and doing things that are pleasing to God.
The Spirit brings you God’s wisdom from heaven through his wonderful word. The Spirit also brings you God’s power to act on what you know. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding … and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Use the Force.
September 7, 2009
Jump!
You step to the edge and feel the updraft wash over you. The ground and trees below look far too small for comfort as you edge out with your toes hanging over the abyss. You look down one more time at the rubber band (euphemistically called a bungee cord) tied around your ankles and then you jump into the void. That’s trust.
Isn’t it amazing how much we trust people and things. We trust a bungee cord. We trust a plane manufacturer and pilot. We trust doctors. We trust government and our army. But what about God? What if we were standing on top of a building and Jesus stood on the pavement 4 stories below and yelled out, “Jump, I’ll catch you.” Would you do it? Let’s say we have been with Jesus and seen him raise the dead and heal the sick and then he told you to jump and he would catch you. Could you step out into the empty space?
Lord Jesus, I thank you for being there for me on that cross and taking my sins away. Help me to trust you. I thank you for being with me in my daily life and watching over my steps. Help me trust you. Thank you for being there for me in sickness and when healthy, in need and on top of the world. Help me trust you. And thank you Lord for promising me a future with you in joy and glory, a world renewed and restored, a life without end. And thank you for helping me trust you more and more.
“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” Psalm 118:9
August 6, 2009
