Why would a person care about what God
says? To someone who does not believe in
God this may seem like an irrelevant question.
Why would a believer want to follow the wisdom and direction of the Lord
of the universe? Conversely, for a child
of God this question may seem obvious, or unusual. But, these questions are important for anyone
facing the difficulties of life.
In January of this year, before Kathy and I
left to visit family in Florida, I kept a promise to a woman who is a member of
St. John. She wanted to ask me how a
Christian should view and respond to government and to authorities, and wanted
to discuss this dilemma with me. We spent about an hour looking at Scripture
verses and discussing their meaning for our lives as children of God. I sensed that she was thankful for direction she
received in response to her questions.
Life has always presented difficult challenges,
challenges which can confuse us. We face many such difficulties today. For example, in these times of political
division, the discussion I had with the lady from St. John about government can
be a challenging issue. In addition, another
difficult topic concerns the recent COVID pandemic. What should a Christian think about and how do
we respond to this challenge? Another
very current issue regards recent news that a possible landmark decision may be
handed down by the Supreme Court in June concerning abortion laws. In each of these situations we might want to
ask, “What should I think? What should a
Christian do? How should a child of God respond? Why does my faith influence my decisions?”
However, before dealing with these specific
issues, it is important to ask another question, a bigger question. “Who is
Lord of my Life?” In other words, who
controls what is right and wrong for me?
Who is the guide and Shepherd for my decisions?
Christians have traditional
believed that God is Lord or Ruler of our lives. Consider the lesson He teaches us in Psalm
24:1.
“The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live
in it.”
Because God made and created everything and everyone in
the world, everything belongs to Him; we belong to Him. Because God is our Creator and Lord, we are
to listen to and obey Him. That is our
responsibility as people whom God made. To
a certain extent, responsibility is the Old Testament perspective. Unfortunately, even though Christians believe
that our lives belong to God, regretfully we do not always serve the Lord. We are selfish and sinful and we have failed
Him, which just makes life more complicated.
However, because of the life, the
death, and the resurrection of Jesus, we hear a different perspective for
facing life’s difficult questions. Our
Lord inspired Paul to write these words in 2 Corinthians 5:15. “And he died for all, that those who live
should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was
raised again.” The Old Testament teaches
us that we owe the Lord our lives because He creates us. In the New Testament God tells us that He
loves us so much that, in spite of our sin, His son, Jesus, died and rose for
us. God wants us to serve and honor Him because
we know His saving love. Our Lord does
not want us to serve and obey Him out of coercion. He wants our hearts to desire to serve Him in
thanks and praise for the undeserved love and salvation He gives us.
Confirmation Day at St. John is May
22 this year. For years I have asked
confirmation students to memorize 2 Corinthians 5:15, the verse quoted above. According to that verse, and others, the
reason we listen to God, the reason we live for him, is out of love, love which
begins with His undeserved love for us. The reason we listen to God, the reason
we live for him, is because Jesus died for us.
By the way, among those being confirmed this year is my oldest grandson,
Jacob Rockey.
My devotions on Wednesday, May 11, included
the following simple bedtime prayer, written by a Lutheran pastor from the 1800’s,
Wilhelm Loehe. Notice how this prayer acknowledges
that God loves us, and how the prayer asks our Lord’s help so that we do indeed
live for Him, because of His saving love.
Here is the prayer.
Tired
now, I go to rest,
Jesus,
Savior, ever blest,
In
Thy name I close mine eyes;
Watch
Thou by me till I rise.
Thou
my best and kindest friend
Thou
wilt love me till the end!
Let
me love Thee more and more,
Always
better than before. Amen.
Why would a person care about what
God says? Why would a believer want to
follow the wisdom and direction of the Lord of the universe? These are questions we all should ask,
whether we know it or not. I want confirmation
students to know that we listen to God, we live for Him, because Jesus died for
us, and because we love Him. And, I hope
that Jake seeks to pray and live this prayer.
A Child of God, Thankful for the Guidance of God’s
Love in Dealing with Life’s Questions,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Kathy and I extended our stay in Florida so I
could attend the 50th (51st) reunion from my Gainesville
High School class of 1971. Here are a
few pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/PPbPE2hSCp6mv7BX9
P.P.S. On Mother’s Day we visited the graves of my
parents. Here are a few pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/9fMn9WJBUvBhDha47
P.P.P.S. I did go
fishing one last time on the Suwannee River, but the water was fast and I did
not catch the fish which bit my bait. I
did see a big gator. Here are a couple
of pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/kNwjsJkeNqogAT2F6 In fact, here is a
link to all the pictures I took while fishing in Florida this Spring. https://photos.app.goo.gl/kBPzJnWFKmfEdzML6
P.P.P.P.S. In response to questions I have seen on the
upcoming Supreme Court abortion decision, I have written a response from my
faith views. However, the internet and
Facebook are not the place for reasonable discussion. If you want a copy of the piece I wrote,
please e-mail me and I’ll send you a copy.
Then we can talk in person if you wish.
*****
ABOUT
THIS DEVOTION - I retired at the end of August 2019 from serving as senior
pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer, AK. I was writing a weekly
devotion previously entitled, "Thoughts from the Pastor."
When I retired many asked me to continue writing these devotions. So I
have continued writing. However, with life's changes I now call this weekly
devotion "Journeys Through Life as a Child of God." Since
I am no longer senior pastor at St. John, I felt it right to only send
this message to those who asked to receive it. (Though I am now serving
again part-time at St. John as assistant to the pastor.)
So, if you stopped receiving these devotions and wondered why, now you
understand. And, if you are now receiving these devotions and do not wish
to receive them, please let me know, and I’ll gladly remove your name from my
distribution list. My e-mail address is jonrock53@mtaonline.net.
My
prayer is that these devotions help each of you in your daily walk with our
Lord, Jesus.
*******
Jonathan Rockey
Child of God
Husband, Father, Son, Grandfather
Pastor Emeritus, St. John Lutheran Church
E-Mail: jonrock53@mtaonline.net
“1 John 3:1 How great is the love the
Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that
is what we are!” (1 John 3:1a)
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