For the last few Wednesdays we have looked at Sanctification. This is the end of posting about sanctification, just taking a different approach today and going forward one Wednesdays. For the foreseeable future, Wednesday will be known as Joyous Wednesday. The blog will be about something joyous...
C.S. Lewis once mused about Christianity saying, "I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” This is a very popular quote from...
God helps those who help themselves. Benjamin Franklin said this in Poor Richards Almanac and there are a plethora of other places where we find this quote. People usually say it because it empowers man and holds him accountable. God doesn't help those who mess up, but rather He helps those who...
Today is the feast of the Ascension of our Lord Christ. Today, we celebrate the Man's Victory, for God became man and is now seated at the Right Hand of the Father, ruling over all as the victor over the grave. Jesus ascended into the heavens and by appearance, it looks like Jesus is gone for...
Luther wrote in the Large Catechism saying, "Meanwhile, since holiness has begun and is growing daily, we await the time when our flesh will be put to death, will be buried with all its uncleanness, and will come fourth gloriously and will arise to complete and perfect holiness in a new, eternal...
Jesus says in Luke, "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13 NKJV). This is the constant struggle for we the baptized. What does it mean to serve...
One of the most popular stories that Jesus tells, as recorded in the Gospel according to St. Luke, is the story of the Prodigal and his two sons. So often we call this the parable of the prodigal son, but then we forget the older brother. So, rather than focus on the one son in this text, it is...
The blessing of St. Boaz to his workers, as recorded in Ruth, says, "And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” (Ruth 2:4). Today we meditate on the Salutation in the...
Are you ready to die? There's a question that some Christians ask people when they do door-to-door evangelism which goes, "If you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven or hell?" This question is supposed to open a discussion on how one can prevent going to hell and go to heaven instead...
Psalm 116 prays, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Psalm 116:15). These words are usually read in light of things like martyrdom or death at the end of life, when the saints of the Lord are ushered from this valley or sorrow and into the joys of heaven. However...