The following devotions are written and shared weekly by Pastor Steve Harmon.
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Day One
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul quotes (I’m assuming) a Greek philosopher: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” He uses that as a point of connection. He is writing to a Greek audience and this must be a well known saying. He then writes that with the same conviction of faith we also believe and speak.
The content of the message is the key. This isn’t validation for all who think that it doesn’t matter what you believe just as long as your faith is sincere. In a world where truth is viewed as subjective, that point of view is held by many. And if there is no objective truth, then there would be nothing wrong with that.
But there is an objective truth. Luther would say that if your faith is in the one true God, then it that is good. If it is not, then you are lost. You are standing on shaky ground. For Paul, the important thing isn’t so much what you know as it is who you know.
We proclaim Christ crucified and risen from the dead. We believe His Word. He is the only life and salvation for the world not because we say so, but because He does. He is the objective Truth. Everything else is a lie. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
Day Two
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Jeremiah 1, we see that Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet. He thought of himself as a child and didn’t know how to speak. Moses was the same way. I was the same way. I spent nine years getting my undergraduate degree because I was arguing with God. I was convinced that He had the wrong guy.
And that may not be a bad thing. If someone really wants to do that – if they really want to be the mouthpiece of God – if they presume that they are the mouthpiece of God – then I would be a bit suspicious of their motivations.
It is not an easy road that the prophets of old had to walk. It’s not an easy road that those called into the pastoral ministry have to walk. I’m just trying not to get in His way as He works through His Word to accomplish His will.
At any rate, the good news is that God is with us in whatever He calls us to do. He is really inviting us to participate in the work that He is doing in the lives of our neighbors – those whose paths we cross.
May God give us eyes to see those opportunities and willing hearts to follow where He leads.
Day Three
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 26 describes times not much different from our own. The state doesn’t want to hear our testimony. It doesn’t want to hear about Christ or repentance or sin. It wants to continue on without anyone to say that there is a God who cares how we live and treat one another – that there is an objective law that guides the universe – a law that they have to answer to.
We deal with hostility. Sometimes it’s in the form of freedoms taken away – no prayer in school, no public nativity scenes or no public display of the Ten Commandments. At other times it comes through lawsuits or loss of jobs. Ridicule, mockery and just being ignored are also common forms of hostility.
But we continue to speak and live as children of God. We continue to speak of Jesus Christ and His saving work done to save us from the power of sin and death – to save us from damnation. We continue to speak of and live in the hope who lives in us so that some might see the light and believe.
Day Four
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 31 is a word of hope to a people sent into exile – who believed that God had deserted them. He did not. He was and has always been with them. In the midst of those times when God disciplines, it’s hard to see His presence or even desire it. It’s certainly hard to see His love.
Here He tells them that He will gather them again. He will bring them home. He will restore them to the land that God had promised to their fathers – to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The covenant remains intact. God’s promises have not and will not fail.
That is spoken to us again and again as we gather for worship. We come into God’s presence and confess our sin. And God speaks words of pardon and peace for the sake of Jesus who gave His life so that we could live. In Christ, we are restored. And by His work we are welcomed home.
Day Five
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah is feeling for himself (Jeremiah 15). He has done everything right (at least in his mind) and he is the one suffering. When we find ourselves in such circumstances, we might also ask the question: “Why me?” We try to do our best. We’re at least better than many others – many others who seem to have no worries or problems. It’s the old lament: “Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer?”
If we focus on the things of this world – those things that we consider blessings – that we feel we deserve – then we will always end up like Jeremiah. We will end up focusing on what we don’t have – in comparison to others – because someone will always have more or better blessings. And we believe that we deserve better.
The reality is that we deserve nothing but death. We are sinful human beings. The curse of the law demands perfection and death for anything less. We aren’t perfect and never can be. That curse hangs over us and would crush us, if not for the work done by Jesus.
The only truly righteous One suffered the pains of both physical and eternal death. He suffered and died while the wicked lived – especially evident in those who mocked Him and ridiculed Him as He hung dying on the cross.
But it had to be that way. He had to suffer that penalty so that we could live. He was the perfect Lamb of God – the perfect sacrifice. He suffered the death that we deserve – that God’s law demands – so that the curse of the law might be lifted from us. By the blood of His sacrifice, we are forgiven. In the waters of Baptism, we are made clean.
That is our hope. We have been united with Jesus in His death and life. By that union, we receive all the benefits of His saving work. We are raised from death to live as children of God. We have been adopted into God’s family. We have a home that no amount of suffering can destroy. The empty tomb is the guarantee that nothing – not even death – can now separate us from the love of God that is ours in Jesus.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul quotes (I’m assuming) a Greek philosopher: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” He uses that as a point of connection. He is writing to a Greek audience and this must be a well known saying. He then writes that with the same conviction of faith we also believe and speak.
The content of the message is the key. This isn’t validation for all who think that it doesn’t matter what you believe just as long as your faith is sincere. In a world where truth is viewed as subjective, that point of view is held by many. And if there is no objective truth, then there would be nothing wrong with that.
But there is an objective truth. Luther would say that if your faith is in the one true God, then it that is good. If it is not, then you are lost. You are standing on shaky ground. For Paul, the important thing isn’t so much what you know as it is who you know.
We proclaim Christ crucified and risen from the dead. We believe His Word. He is the only life and salvation for the world not because we say so, but because He does. He is the objective Truth. Everything else is a lie. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
Day Two
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Jeremiah 1, we see that Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet. He thought of himself as a child and didn’t know how to speak. Moses was the same way. I was the same way. I spent nine years getting my undergraduate degree because I was arguing with God. I was convinced that He had the wrong guy.
And that may not be a bad thing. If someone really wants to do that – if they really want to be the mouthpiece of God – if they presume that they are the mouthpiece of God – then I would be a bit suspicious of their motivations.
It is not an easy road that the prophets of old had to walk. It’s not an easy road that those called into the pastoral ministry have to walk. I’m just trying not to get in His way as He works through His Word to accomplish His will.
At any rate, the good news is that God is with us in whatever He calls us to do. He is really inviting us to participate in the work that He is doing in the lives of our neighbors – those whose paths we cross.
May God give us eyes to see those opportunities and willing hearts to follow where He leads.
Day Three
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 26 describes times not much different from our own. The state doesn’t want to hear our testimony. It doesn’t want to hear about Christ or repentance or sin. It wants to continue on without anyone to say that there is a God who cares how we live and treat one another – that there is an objective law that guides the universe – a law that they have to answer to.
We deal with hostility. Sometimes it’s in the form of freedoms taken away – no prayer in school, no public nativity scenes or no public display of the Ten Commandments. At other times it comes through lawsuits or loss of jobs. Ridicule, mockery and just being ignored are also common forms of hostility.
But we continue to speak and live as children of God. We continue to speak of Jesus Christ and His saving work done to save us from the power of sin and death – to save us from damnation. We continue to speak of and live in the hope who lives in us so that some might see the light and believe.
Day Four
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 31 is a word of hope to a people sent into exile – who believed that God had deserted them. He did not. He was and has always been with them. In the midst of those times when God disciplines, it’s hard to see His presence or even desire it. It’s certainly hard to see His love.
Here He tells them that He will gather them again. He will bring them home. He will restore them to the land that God had promised to their fathers – to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The covenant remains intact. God’s promises have not and will not fail.
That is spoken to us again and again as we gather for worship. We come into God’s presence and confess our sin. And God speaks words of pardon and peace for the sake of Jesus who gave His life so that we could live. In Christ, we are restored. And by His work we are welcomed home.
Day Five
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah is feeling for himself (Jeremiah 15). He has done everything right (at least in his mind) and he is the one suffering. When we find ourselves in such circumstances, we might also ask the question: “Why me?” We try to do our best. We’re at least better than many others – many others who seem to have no worries or problems. It’s the old lament: “Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer?”
If we focus on the things of this world – those things that we consider blessings – that we feel we deserve – then we will always end up like Jeremiah. We will end up focusing on what we don’t have – in comparison to others – because someone will always have more or better blessings. And we believe that we deserve better.
The reality is that we deserve nothing but death. We are sinful human beings. The curse of the law demands perfection and death for anything less. We aren’t perfect and never can be. That curse hangs over us and would crush us, if not for the work done by Jesus.
The only truly righteous One suffered the pains of both physical and eternal death. He suffered and died while the wicked lived – especially evident in those who mocked Him and ridiculed Him as He hung dying on the cross.
But it had to be that way. He had to suffer that penalty so that we could live. He was the perfect Lamb of God – the perfect sacrifice. He suffered the death that we deserve – that God’s law demands – so that the curse of the law might be lifted from us. By the blood of His sacrifice, we are forgiven. In the waters of Baptism, we are made clean.
That is our hope. We have been united with Jesus in His death and life. By that union, we receive all the benefits of His saving work. We are raised from death to live as children of God. We have been adopted into God’s family. We have a home that no amount of suffering can destroy. The empty tomb is the guarantee that nothing – not even death – can now separate us from the love of God that is ours in Jesus.