Thursday, January 20, 2022
For the Love of God …
follow where Jesus leads.
Psalm 19:2
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
Revelation 14:7
He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.’
Words of Grace For Today
Day to day, and
Night to night …
There is a lot that comes at us day after day and night after night …
There are so many things by which we can orient ourselves as we face what comes!
Some promise a reward sometime in the distant future, some in the near future, some even in the just about to be present – almost instant rewards, but none live up to their promises and give us life, abundant life, except …
…
except when we orient ourselves first and foremost by a proper fear of God. It’s the kind of fear that gives God all the glory for everything good. God deserves our worship. We deserve to be people who give God glory and worship, along with all of creation.
…
except if we orient ourselves completely out of fear for God, we become pretty useless, reduced to fear responses for everything we do, which leaves us decaying into puddles of reptilian responses to everything: freeze, flight, or fight.
And these response do not involve our whole brain, our whole hearts, our whole being, all given to us by a God that loves us.
Martin Luther taught us well that ‘we are to fear and love God ….’
That love part gives us something by which to orient ourselves day and night, which bring our whole mind, heart and being in to play as we live, and by God’s Grace can choose to:
listen,
learn,
forgive,
love,
and
hope,
so that many, many other people can see how great life is when we live it oriented by our fear and love of God.
God’s judgment will come, day by day, night by night and
…
by God’s promise made to us in our baptisms we know that all our sins will be set aside and Jesus’ pure and righteous record will replace ours …
and we will be saved,
day by day and night by night.