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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Thursday, January 22, 2004 Let Go |
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FRONTLINE
DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2004, by Fritz Foltz
Bible text:
Acts 7:30-53
This is the second half of Saint Stephen’s last sermon. He is summarizing the
work of the Holy Spirit in history, mentioning how people have tried to oppose
God’s will at every point. By the time he is finished, we have another example.
The people drag him outside the city gates and stone him. Stephan becomes the
first Christian to die for the faith.
Certainly the primary desire of all Christians should be to do God’s will. Most
of us offer that prayer daily. And certainly each time we do, we should be
asking how we are standing in the way of the Holy Spirit. That might be the
reason “Forgive us our sins” follows the petition so closely.
The text makes clear the main reason people resist the Spirit is because they do
not want to “let go” of things and customs that have outlived their usefulness.
Certainly the law and customs given by Moses and the temple instituted by
Solomon once played an important part in their religious life. But now the Holy
Spirit was moving on.
We, too, must constantly be asking what we must “let go” in order to follow the
Spirit.
And we should not take the question lightly. The text makes clear we hang on for
dear life, tight enough to kill those who ask us to “let go”. My low in sitting
through a bad sermon happened when a pastor answered the question by speaking of
how he drank too much coffee. Now some of us might humorously speak of how we
would “kill” for a cup of coffee, but I hardly think that is what Acts has in
mind. On the other hand, too often I hear people list things just about as
trivial when speaking of what prevents them from doing God’s will. When they do,
they are just as “out of it” as the poor preacher.
The writer of Acts seems to be telling us we can understand what we should be
doing and what we should be “letting go” by imitating Jesus. The whole test is
patterned on Jesus’ passion, everything from the charge to the false witnesses
to Stephen’s words as he dies.
Every one of us is challenged radically when we compare our lives to Jesus’.
Every one of us finds some of our most cherished practices and deeply held
beliefs have outlived their usefulness in God’s plan.
Let us pray: Loving Father, you alone are holy. Bring your ways, your will into
our world. Supply only what we really need today. Forgive us our resistance to
your will and enable us to forgive those who do not do what we want. In all of
this keep us from responding with hatred and violence and allow us to remember
you control all in the end. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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