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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 26, 2006 Speaking God’s Words |
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Frontline Devotion for Sunday, February 26, 2006 by Brenda Kessler
The seventh verse of 1 Peter, chapter 4, says this: “The end of all things is near.” Verse eleven of chapter 4, the verse I was assigned to write about today, begins like this: “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.”
It was 1978.My mother was hospitalized, in grave condition, as I drove from my home to the hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. My mother had fallen away from the church several years before. We had talked about many things while she was ill but not about God or Jesus. During the last few visits I was feeling that she wanted to talk about something more. I was feeling that she wanted to talk about God. Did she pray? Did she read scripture? Did she talk with anybody about her faith journey? I didn’t know. “Please, Lord, let me talk with Mom about you,” I nervously prayed as I drove.
When I entered her room, the first words out of my mother’s mouth were, “I just had a wonderful discussion with the cleaning lady. She took the bible out of the drawer in the bedside stand and read some scripture to me and then we had a great discussion about it.” “You’ve got to be kidding,” I thought. “You make things so easy for me, God.” I didn’t have to say one word. Mom did all the talking. Eventually we had a wonderful two-way discussion about God and his love.
Although the words, “the end of all things is near,” probably refer to an anticipation of the end times and Christ’s return, I found myself thinking about my mother as I meditated on the eleventh verse of 1 Peter in preparation for this devotion. For mother, “the end of all things” was very near in 1978 when a cleaning lady in a large city hospital gently spoke “the very words of God” to her. I was very grateful. A Psalm of praise comes to mind every time I think about that cleaning lady:
“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name,
O Most High.” – Psalm 9:1-2
As I look back on the occasion now, many years later, I realize that what I thought would be a very challenging time for me turned out to be a gift from God to me because one of God’s servants, a cleaning lady, was not afraid to “speak the very words of God.”
The cleaning lady used words from scripture to bring the very words of God to my mother. Could it be that other words might be the very words of God as well? Could words of hope to somebody who is very ill be the very words of God? Could words that bring a sense of value to somebody feeling worthless be the very words of God? Could words of love to somebody grieving a loss be the very words of God? Could words of challenge to a leader making public decisions be the very words of God? I believe they could.
We – you and I – need to strive to be open to those times when God might want to use us to speak His very words.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for people who share your very words with us. Thank you for the comfort they bring to us. Thank you for the love they bring to us. Thank you for the challenge they bring to us. Help us to know when to share your words with others. In Jesus’ name we pray. 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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