Dear Fellow Children of God,
When a young couple marries, they have all sorts of
dreams of how wonderful life will be, maybe even how easy it will be, to
live married with “the one I love.”
Nevertheless, many find out that, though we might think loving another person
is easy, sometimes love can be very difficult.
On Sunday, February 2, I preached on the appointed Gospel
Lesson, Luke 4:31-44. But, in so doing I
did not get to share the wonderful words of God from Corinthians 13, where He speaks
through St. Paul to call us to love. The
whole chapter is beautiful. Perhaps the
best known section of 1 Corinthians 13 is found in verses 4-8a, and 13. “4Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does
not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it
does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never ends. . . . 13So
now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
love.” These inspired words make Christian
love sound poetic and beautiful. Christian living should indeed witness to God
through actions of kindness and patience. Nevertheless, while the poetry of this
chapter sounds so beautiful, we can easily miss the depth of God’s call for His
children.
Please consider some other lessons from our Lord concerning
‘love.’ God also inspired St. Paul to write in Romans 13:10, “. . . love is
the fulfilling of the law.” Yet, who
can fulfill God’s perfect law??!
Jesus’ call to His disciples in the upper room is plain. “A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love
one another.” (John. 13:34) However,
who can love others with the giving, perfect, sacrifice, with which
Jesus loved us?
Finally, while love may sound so beautiful, listen
to this seemingly impossible call of our Lord from His Sermon on the Mount. 43 "You have heard that it
was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But
I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matt. 5:43-44 ESV) Which one of us
can love our enemy? Honestly!
Yes, the Christian life is shown in love. But that love begins with faith, faith that God
has first loved us. Think on what God
says in 1 John 4:10-11, “10 In this is love, not that we have
loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. 11 Beloved, if God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another.” For us to love others, that love starts when
God loves us. Or, meditate upon the
unbelievable message from our Heavenly Father in Romans 5:8. “. . . God shows his love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”!!!
As people born in sin, we sadly cannot and do not love
perfectly. Instead, we often act selfishly, unkindly, and impatiently. But Jesus loved perfectly. Jesus loved us in
His agonizing death on the cross to pay for our sins. Jesus loved us when He rose from the grave,
defeating death. Jesus loves us and offers
eternal life to all who believe in Him. I
do not deserve the love of Jesus, but He has acted in kindness and patience, with
sacrifice and forgiveness. Faith that
Jesus loves a sinner like me, helps me to love, however imperfectly. Faith in Jesus enables me to even pray for my
enemies, and to work at treating them kindly.
For recreation I fish and I play golf. Those hobbies can look very easy. Yet many have trouble getting fish to bite,
never mind actually catching the fish and landing it. It can look very simple to hit a ball which
is laying still. However, just because golf
looks simple does not make it so. When a
young married couple, or a young Christian for that matter, considers loving
others, such an act of giving may seem simple. But it is not. Nevertheless, Jesus’ love for us does help us
to show love to others. Remember 1
Corinthians 13, “now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the
greatest of these is love.”
A Child of God, Loved by Jesus So I can Work at the
Impossible Task of Loving Others,
Pastor Rockey
P.S. I continue to
serve as vacancy pastor at First Lutheran Church in Gainesville, Florida, until
First Lutheran receives a permanent full-time pastor.
However, Pastor Chris
Kollman has accepted the call to serve First Lutheran as full-time pastor.
·
Pastor Kollmann will be installed as Pastor of
First Lutheran on Sunday afternoon, February 16, at 4:00 p.m. with a meal to
follow. Pastor Kollmann’s first Sunday to lead worship is February 23.
·
In Sunday Bible Class we began a study of “The Pastoral Epistles,” 1 and 2
Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, on Sunday, January 5. We just started studying 1 Timothy 2. Come and Join Us in the Besalski Fellowship
Hall at 8:45 a.m.!!!!!
·
SUNDAY SCHOOL IS IN FULL SWING until
May. Children begin in worship at 10:00 a.m.. Early in the service, after
the Children’s Message, children leave for a lesson, for a craft, and a
snack.
Parents,
Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts, Neighbors, PLEASE bring your children to
Sunday School. THANK YOU Sunday
School Teachers and staff!
·
COLLEGE STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS meet on
Tuesday nights in the student house at 7:00 p.m. Come and join us! They
are studying “The Case for Christianity.” Tuesday night group classes have started up again. ALSO, there will be College Lunch for students
in the Fellowship Hall after worship beginning on February 9.
·
STEPHEN MINISTRY – First Lutheran is
re-activating the Stephen Ministry program at First Lutheran. Angie Burr, Jean Halabrin, and Dana Lucas
will start leadership training, hopefully on February 10. In addition, those who are committed to
training as supervised Christian Care Givers include: Julie Dicks, Tina Gorske,
Patti Holloway, Debbie Jones, Marge Polkowski, Kathy Rockey, Stephanie Smith, and
Jon Visscher. Stay tuned for more
information as the training process progresses.
Please pray for this caring ministry at First Lutheran.
·
WE CONTINUE TO READ THROUGH THE SCRIPTURE IN
2024 and 2025 using the “Today’s Light Devotional Bible.” On Wednesday,
February 5, we read Jeremiah 7 and 8.
Feel free to
contact Pastor Rockey at 907-841-4066 if you have any questions about these
readings. Or send an e-mail question to jonrock53@mtaonline.net I have
recently received questions and comments. It is always good to consider
our Lord’s love and guidance. I will TRY to answer, but some things only God
knows!
·
We are discussing beginning A New Member
Class at First Lutheran in late February or early March. At least 3 people have indicated a desire
to attend. Details will follow.
P.P.S. Family Fun:
·
Since I
have been back I went fishing once since my last devotion. On Sunday, February 2, after a Bible Class,
worship, and a couple of meetings, I fished in Orange Lake. Here are a couple pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/QbGP7f1btLS3m2yj9
·
I have
also been golfing twice and am
getting back into the swing.
*******
ABOUT THIS DEVOTION - I
retired at the end of August 2019 from serving as full-time 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. (However, I am currently as Vacancy Pastor for
First Lutheran Church in Gainesville, FL.)
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
Vacancy Pastor, First Lutheran
Church, Gainesville, FL
Pastor Emeritus, St. John Lutheran Church, Palmer, AK
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 3:1 a)
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