6-30-2022

 Good Morning!    

            Psalm 34:19; “The righteous person has many troubles, but the Lord rescues him from all of them.”

    “And they lived happily ever after.” I truly loathe that phrase. It sets us up for failure. No one has it perfectly good. We all experience struggle. The idea that someone else has it “happily ever after” and I don’t, can lead to all sorts of sadness and depression.  When I counsel people about to be married; that is one of the phrases that I tell them is completely wrong.  You don’t just live “happily ever after;” marriage is a commitment and requires due diligence to survive. 

    The “happily ever after” is probably one of the most common misconceptions about becoming a Christian.  I hear many people who think that God somehow sits with a little score pad and watches you.  As soon as the score gets a little too high on the “sin side,” they believe that God will “zap” them.  Maybe a whole bunch of minor disruptions in their life, like a flat tire or a car that won’t start, or getting a rock chip in your windshield, or losing some items and not being able to find them or any of a number of things. 

    God doesn’t operate this way.  God’s desire for you is love, contentment, hope and salvation.  It is sin, our sin; that gets in the way.  When man sinned, creation was stymied and distressed.  Chaos entered our world.  We read where creation groans as in childbirth, in pain because of sin.  So, in this broken creation there will be trouble and the righteous person will have just as much trouble as the unrighteous person; maybe even more because the righteous person will be afflicted by his conscience as well.  You will have troubles.

   The difference is that the righteous person, those whom God has given salvation and faith, will be rescued from their troubles.  God sends his Spirit of comfort and consolation to us, and he uses many forms to do this.  It might be the comfort of His Word, or His sacraments.  It might be the comfort we find in the consolation of family and friends.  It might be others that God may use to comfort you; it might even be a song or a hymn that you hear at just the right time.  There is no limit to what God can and will use to bring you comfort and hope.

    So, as we go through life, there will be struggles.  We will face many storms in our lives, some very severe.  Yet we know that God will be with us and guide us and comfort us.  We will have a rainbow at the end of the storm.  We may not want to see it, but it will be there.  God rescues the righteous and by his grace, he has declared you to be righteous.  He does this because he loves you and wants you to live with him eternally.

Father of our rescue, there are many paths which lead us away.  There are paths that lead to our destruction.  Only you provide for us to be rescued from our sorrows.  Guide us by your Word and sustain us by your love.  Be with those who are especially feeling the struggles of this life.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

6-29-2022

 Good Morning!    

              Genesis 3:18; “The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat wild plants.”

     Do you remember the old pop song, “Working in the Coal Mine?”  Lee Dorsey sang it; Booker T am the MGs sang it even the Judds sang it.  It was a song about working all the time but never getting ahead.

                “FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNIN' I'M UP BEFORE THE SUN

             WHEN MY WORKDAY IS OVER, I'M TOO TIRED FOR HAVIN' FUN.”

I think most of us feel that way.  Work, work, work seems to be all we do, and it seems we never get anything accomplished.  It can seem like we are only spinning our wheels.  This can leave us feeling empty.

    This is part of the consequences of sin in our world and in our life.  Nothing will come to us in this world easily.  Nothing will be ours in a simple fashion.  The worst part is that others will seem to get things easily all the while we are working very hard.  This is part of the isolation of sin.  This is part of the devil telling us that we are alone.  We will only work and work and never get ahead.  We will always have too much month at the end of the money.  This is what the devil and the world will tell us.

     Our verse is both a pronouncement of punishment but also a warning of our life.  God is telling Adam that he will work and work hard for his food his whole life.  Apart from God and his grace, our life is futile.  This is what Solomon meant when he wrote, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” everything is a futile effort without God and his love.  Our work will be just that: work.  Our life will be work that at times will seem to be futile and sometimes worthless because sin has separated us from God.

    This is why God had to intervene into our lives.  We were going to be in this endless cycle without him.  We were going to being running in a spinning wheel like a gerbil.  So it was out of love that God stepped in to break that cycle.  Jesus came to put us back right with God.  He restored our relationship with God and his love and grace.

    We will still have to work and work hard.  There will still be weeds and thorns in our life; there will be things that occur that make life difficult to live.  Yet we do not walk that life alone and we do not face those battles with no one there to comfort us.  God is there to guide us, to guard us from the devil, to give us the certainty of hope in our salvation.  So, we can look at all the weeds and see them for what they are, temporary pain in our journey with Christ.  There will be weeds but above all there is God’s grace.

Gracious Father, Our life is weedy and hard and without your love it is futile.  Guard us with your loving arms and give us the strength to live our life for you.  Be with those who are struggling today and only see weeds in their life.  Bring them into your gracious arms and give them the peace and comfort they need. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

6-28-2022

Good Morning!    

            Luke 4:13; “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

    There are a few verses in the Bible that, for some strange reason, strike me as really interesting.  This is one of those verses.  This comes at the end of Luke’s description of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness.  As you read Luke’s account, it reads as if the devil is hounding and tempting Jesus for forty days.  Throughout this time, Jesus ate nothing; so, the devil tempted him with bread.  The devil tempted Jesus with food after he had not eaten for forty days.  How much more of an opportune time is there?  Yet we know that the devil continued to tempt Jesus.

     Scripture doesn’t specifically state it; but I would guess that the time Jesus spent praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal was an opportune time.  As Jesus hung on the cross dying and the scribes and Pharisees hurled insults at him, that was probably an opportune time.  One thing we can really see; the devil does not play fair.

    The devil watches you and me and looks for an opportune time.  He seems to find them, and he doesn’t play fair.  It often occurs at a time when you are vulnerable.  Maybe when you meet a group of new people, and someone makes a comment about how “backwards and judgmental” Christians are and they look at you.  Maybe it is the new significant other of your son or daughter makes a statement about abortion or homosexuality, how do you handle it, how do you answer?  These are opportune times.

     It is also an opportune time when we experience events that make no sense, and we wonder why something happens.  Why did the typhoon hit the Philippines and kill so many people?  How could a loving God do that?  Maybe a loved one is suffering and there seems no hope of getting better; this is an opportune time.

    God has promised to always be there for us and to give us strength to endure.  One thing we need to do in this regard is to be aware of “opportune times.”  There will be times when we are vulnerable.  Certain events, certain people, certain situations, all will make us vulnerable.  All of these are opportune times for the devil.  So, it is at times like this that we must be aware of the devil’s temptations.

    Know that even if we fail or slip in our temptation that we are still forgiven, we are still God’s redeemed child.  God gives us the chance to withstand the devil, to be a witness for him.  We should pray to accomplish this.  It is our chance; but even if we fail; we are still loved by God.

Father of grace, the devil seeks out opportune times to tempt us.  Give us the strength to withstand these times and to speak your word of live and grace.  Be with those who are most tempted at this time and give them your Spirit of strength to withstand the attacks this day.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-27-2022

 

Good Morning!    
            John 3:16; “God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.”

    There is a story that probably falls under the “urban myth” category.  The South Dakota version goes like this.  A young boy of about 8 or 9 went up to one of the national park officers at Mount Rushmore monument.  The boy told the officer that he wanted to buy Mount Rushmore.  The officer asked him, “How much do you have?” The boy took a quarter out of his pocket.  “Not enough.”  So, the boy reached into his other pocket and pulled out a crumpled one-dollar bill.  “Still not enough.”  Then the officer looked at the boy, smiled and said, “First of, the monument is not for sale.  Secondly, you don’t have anywhere near enough money.  Finally, if you are a U.S. citizen, you already own it.”

   I am sure that there are many versions of this story, and you can change the amount of money and the national park or monument, but the story is the same basic story.  There are some things that you don’t have enough money for, it isn’t for sale, and you already own it.

     That is exactly what we can say about our salvation.  We don’t have enough money to buy it.  Although there are many who try.  They try by using their “good works” to try and impress God.  They think that God will owe them for all the “good things” they do.  That is pretty much what the Pharisees thought.  Somehow, God was going to be impressed by how they acted.  But that was the real problem; it was just an act and the only ones who were fooled were some of the people and the Pharisees.

    Even if you could possibly find enough money or good works, it is not for sale.  It was earned by Jesus through his death and resurrection.  It is his righteousness, and it is simply not for sale.  Remember the devil tried to buy it over and over again but could never offer a good enough price.  The devil offered all the nations of the world, but Jesus turned him down cold.  The salvation he earned was not and is not for sale.

    What our salvation is; it is ours.  God has given it to us through the gift of faith.  We can’t buy it; we will never have enough money, but we already possess it.  Our salvation, a gift from God because of Jesus’ righteousness, belongs to us now and forever!  Because God has redeemed us back into his holy family, we have salvation given to us freely.  It is ours because God loves us enough to give it to us.  His love for us is beyond measure and price.

Gracious Father, you give us the wonderful gift of salvation.  It costs more than we could ever pay and yet it is freely ours.  Give us the wisdom to understand that our works are not for you, or for our self but are for our brothers and sisters who are in need.  Move us by your Spirit to live as you desire us to.  Be with those who are struggling with the cares of life.  Help them to solve their woes and their cares.  Bring them the peace that the certainty of their salvation and the guarantee of your love will bring.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

 

6-26-2022

Good Morning!    

       Genesis 3:13; “Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

    Have you ever been deceived?  Have you ever had someone purposely mislead you with a malicious intent?  I would guess most of us have not.  We have not had someone truly set out to deceive and lie to us in order for that other person to have some form of gain.  There has never been an insurance scam run.  There has never been a promise of money for you if you would send them some money to help.  There has never been a phone call from a “grandchild” needing you to wire them some money.  No one has ever said that the car was only driven by a little old lady to church and back.  Maybe we have been deceived; it sounds more like it all the time.

    These are only a few of the frauds and lies out there.  Some are even more ingenious.  The one that always gets me is the one that tells you that your computer has a virus so you should download this new program and then that new program is the virus.  That one caught me a couple of times.  Perhaps we live a life that is full of lies and deceptions.  That is what the devil really does; he fills the world with lies and deceptions.

    Jesus called the devil, “the Father of all lies” and if we take time to really think about it; the devil is very good at what he does.  Perhaps the greatest lie that the devil tells is the one where he convinces people that he is not even real, and he certainly is harmless.  The red suit and the pointy tail and the trident pitchfork; how simply harmless.  So, his lies about “don’t worry about me, I won’t hurt you” go on unchallenged.  How many times has he told that lie and how many times was it believed? 

    As Christians we are sometimes confused about the devil.  We know he has been defeated; Jesus did that on the cross.  He can’t grab you and control you like he used to, but he can still talk to you, whisper to you and still deceive you.  He looks for those who he may devour.  Those whom he may devour are those to whom he first deceives.  That is how he works.  He sets out to deceive first, after that it is easier for him.

    Think of some of his deceptions.  I recently talked to someone who felt lonely often.  I asked them if they ever called a friend to go to a movie or out to lunch.  Did they ever invite someone over for coffee?  They answered “no”.  I told them to call and see if someone would go to a movie with them and see how it would go. Yet all that time the devil had convinced them that nobody liked them.  We can be easily deceived because the devil always hits our greatest weakness.  He is good that way.

     Our only hope is to realize that Jesus died for us and that is the whole truth. God’s love for us is displayed in this fashion.  We know that truth and we should hold to that truth and always cling to the cross when we feel despair.

Dear Father, keep us from the lies of the devil.  Give us hope to cling to you.  Be with those who are especially susceptible to those lies and give them strength.  In Jesus’ name, amen      

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-25-2022

Good Morning!    

             Luke 15:24; “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

    A number of years ago, when Tiger Woods was really in his prime, a friend of mine told me a story about his young son.  The two of them were watching the U. S. Open Golf Tournament.  While Tiger Woods was hitting the ball it went way off course and into the weeds.  The young guy, in all seriousness, said, “Tiger should use his mulligan.”  His dad laughed and told him that was only a family rule.

    A mulligan, a “do-over,” if you will, helps many “duffer” golfers.  It is a second chance when you hit a poor shot.  Sometimes those playing decide you get one per round and sometimes you get one per hole; it depends on how good the golfers are or aren’t.  There are many times when it would be nice to have a “do-over” or a second chance.  Maybe the first time you met your soon-to-be in-laws and spilled spaghetti sauce.  Or perhaps when you went to that job interview and your pen leaked all over your shirt.  We all have some of those events where we would like a mulligan. 

    There are times when we would like a second chance but getting one can be very difficult.  Perhaps a cruel word slipped from your lip and caused some pain to a friend.  Maybe you excluded someone from your life and now you regret it.  There are times and events which would be nice to have a mulligan on, but we can’t.  The hurt is there, and the pain is real.

    In our lives there are many times when we do not get a mulligan; we get no chance at a do over.  But God does give us a second chance and a third, fourth and 1,000,000^th chance.  Every second of every day we get a mulligan.  When God sent Jesus to take our place and to die on the cross for us, we got a mulligan.  Actually, we got a lifetime of mulligans.  All of our sins are forgiven; all we need to do is to trust this promise from God.  We were once dead but now we are alive; we are living our second chance.  God, in his mercy, brought us back to himself through the mystery of the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins which we receive because of Jesus’ atonement on the cross.  All that time that we spent lost in sin and now we are found.  We are renewed by God’s grace.  We are healed by his mercy.  Through it we have new life; we have a second chance at life in God’s family.  Our life is not a golf game, in fact; it is no game at all.  It is very serious business, but it is a serious business which God has intervened and taken us back.  God has given you new life, a second chance.  Take it and live that life to the fullest extent which God gives you.

Father of all mercies, you give us new life and give it abundantly.  Through you we enjoy the newness of life.  Through you we live a life in hope.  Through you we have comfort.  Guard us by your grace and give to us the hope for tomorrow.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

6-24-2022

Good Morning!    

              Hebrews 13:21; “equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

    The Boy Scouts have the motto of “Be Prepared.”  That can serve as a good motto for most of us but are we prepared for most of life?  It is amazing how many different ways you can use a screwdriver.  It can serve as a pry bar, as a chisel, as a punch, it will even turn screws in and out.  There are lots of things that can serve as a hammer; a rock or even you shoe will work in a pinch.  Yet, if you want to attempt any Do-it-yourself, fix-it type projects; you really should have the basic tools.

     You will probably need a hammer, a couple of screwdrivers, maybe a cordless drill with assorted drivers and bits, a level, a pair of pliers, and a tape measure.  That would be a good start. With those tools you could do many small fix-it projects.  The important thing is to be equipped for the project that you undertake.  If you are really prepared; you can deal with the contingencies of life.

    The same is true of our spiritual life.  We need to be equipped with the basic toolbox.  God sends His Spirit to us and, through his grace, gives us the necessary tools to live our life.  He gives us the tools to fight the devil by staying close to our Heavenly Father.  He gives us his Word to hear his words of forgiveness.  He gives us his body and blood in the bread and the wine so that we can taste and savor his forgiveness.  He gives us prayer to speak to him with our worries and fears.  He gives us his Spirit to comfort us, and he gives us our fellow redeemed brothers and sister to give us consolation.  He gives us the worship services where we can join together with our brothers and sisters to share in these gifts as one body.

   When we stay close to God, by using the tools he gives us, it is more difficult for the devil to win.  He will still attack, and we will still have bouts of self-condemnation, but these bouts do not have to control our lives.  God’s grace will pull us through; we need to trust this.  This is how God helps us and guides us through the challenges of this life.

   So be sure to keep your spiritual toolbox ready at all times.  Be sure and use it often.  Pray daily, at all times and in all situations.  If you make prayer your habit, it will be the first thing you rely on in trouble.  Read and commit God’s Words to your memory; that way when troubles occur the Spirit can remind you of those words.  Stay connected to your fellow redeemed brothers and sisters.  Do this in worship, in communion, in your daily life; they are who God will use when you need his consolation.  Keep your toolbox handy; you never know when you will need it.

Gracious Lord, you provide for our daily needs.  You give us what we need to support this life.  Teach us to use it and to rely on it.  Be with those who are in need of your grace at this time.  Strengthen them with your mercy.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

6-23-2022

 Good Morning!    

                  Psalm 86:5; “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”

       Given that so many people are using their cell phones and other PED’s today, it is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.   “It” is the family calendar.  Ours is always on the refrigerator.  On it we put important events that are up coming.  We put down doctor appointments, church events, scheduled babysitting events, grandchildren school or sports vents, or any one of a number of things.  This is to keep us from putting two things on the same night.  We were going to spend one weekend at a reunion until we looked at the calendar and saw that we were already committed to a wedding. 

    One of the time-honored traditions with the family calendar was to take the really important dates, like anniversaries, birthdays, special party days was to circle the date.  Many would take a red marker and circle the date so that everyone would see and remember how important it was.  This one usually had the time written on it as well.  Yet it was circled to mark it as the priority date.  It was what we waited for or knew was important and we didn’t or shouldn’t miss it.

   When something is of major importance, we circle it.  It is having a huge impact on what we are doing or experiencing.  We should do that with our faith life as well.  At the end of the day, think of the worst part of today and think of the best part of today.  In your prayers, give thanks for the best thing of today and ask God to remove, alleviate, correct or in some other manner “fix” the problem.  Take the highs and the lows, circle them, and then speak them to God in prayer.

    This is a good form of family devotional time.  Gather your family together and have each share the low point and the high point of the day.  Then join in prayer together, praising God for the good and asking for help with the bad.  This does two things. First, we remember that, in spite of what we think sometimes, there is always something good in our day and we should give thanks.  Secondly, we need to remember to “give to God” our pain and not hold onto it and focus on it.  Sometimes, the devil wants us to focus on what is sad, bad, or painful in order to cloud our vision of God.  This helps us to look up, call upon God, in both the good and the bad, just as He wants us to. 

   So, try this in your prayers, especially with your family, it can help to draw you to focus on God’s grace both in good times and in tough times.  This can be one way to help build your faith.  By focusing on God’s steadfast love for you, it can make the difficult bearable and the joyous more gratifying.

Gracious Father, we call upon your holy Name that we might be blessed by you.  Draw us closer to you; strengthen our faith so that we may ever praise your name.  Help us to see the wonderful things in our life far out -weigh the sadness.  Lead us to seek your mercy and grace in all things.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

6-22-2022

 Good Morning!    

               John 10:10; “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

    Have you ever watched any of the different “Robin Hood” movies?  I am partial to the old Errol Flynn movies.  Yet I watch most of them as they come along.  The one thing I notice is that the newer movies have a much darker view of life in the 1200’s than the earlier movies.  They seem to really try and express the desperate nature of life.  The common people always live in hovels and are always dirty.  Their clothes are ragged, and they are always very poor.  They are usually being harassed by the king’s men for money for taxes.  These later movies paint a sad existence.

    In our world today, there are many people who live this same existence.  They struggle just to get from today to tomorrow.  They struggle with just surviving.  All too often, someone who is powerful will come in and steal whatever they have.  When you see this, you often see these people begin to stop even trying to exist.  They don’t even try because there never seems to be any way to keep enough to live on.  Someone comes and steals it away.

     This is the spiritual battle that we face.  The devil comes to steal and kill and destroy.  He does this out of sheer delight in tormenting us.  He steals your hopes and dreams.  He kills your love for God and for others.  He will destroy your soul as you agonize over life.  This is what the devil enjoys doing, causing you to suffer.  He drains your life of any type of enjoyment or contentment or happiness.  He wants to leave you in a dark and foreboding place.  He wants to come to you to steal, kill and destroy.

    This is where sin leaves us, as the plaything of the devil.  Sin separates us from God leading us away from God’s grace and security out into the world where the devil waits. But God had seen our wretched state and turned to us a father’s heart.  Rather than watch us suffer and slowly be tormented by the devil; God had a plan to rescue us.  He sent his Son to take our place and earn salvation for us.  This wasn’t an easy task but shows to us how much God loves us.  Jesus came to give us live and to give it abundantly.

     God’s grace isn’t skimpy by any measure.  We receive grace upon grace, blessings upon blessings.  God gives us life, abundant life.  He gives us what we need to face the devil’s attacks.  He gives us His Word, His comfort, prayer, companionship of fellow believers, but above all he gives us hope.  All this is out of love for us.  We have God’s love pouring down upon us.  He gives us life, very abundant life!

God of all wonder, you give to us life.  We are slow to see it but are truly blessed by your mercy.  Help us to see that you do carry us through our struggles, and you lead us through our perils.  Strengthen our faith as the battles rage around us.  Be with those who are especially struck by the darkness of the devil’s attacks.  Give them the certainty of your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

6-21-2022

 Good Morning!    

              2 Corinthians 5:17; “Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence.”   

    I love my wife dearly; I really do but sometimes her taste in TV shows leave me wanting.  She likes to watch those home makeover shows.  She likes those tearjerker ones where they remodel a house for a good cause.  She likes the ones where the guy just stops someone on the street and offers to redo s complete stranger’s house.  She likes the ones where three people compete in a contest to remodel houses.  She likes the ones where the neighbors swap and remodel the other one’s house.  She loves them; I just don’t get them.

   I cannot ever imagine having someone, friend, or complete stranger, just walk into my house, start knocking down walls, going to junkyards and “salvaging” some old piece of whatever and painting my house.  I don’t think that there is anyone who could really know what I would truly like.  There are a lot of styles I can tolerate but if it is supposed to be what I would like; I think you should ask me.  Because no matter how close we are to one another, I don’t really think we can absolutely say we can positively know what the other person would like without some direction from the other person.  Needless to say, I would never remodel your house.

    I say this because we can never really know what another person likes.  We might understand their likings, their tendencies.  We might be able to do something that they would be impressed with or satisfied with but to do so in a fashion that the recipient would find completely right just seems highly unlikely.  It takes a complete understanding which we lack.

    Yet we know that God does know exactly what we need.  He knows that our sinful nature needs to disappear.  This sinful nature is not just offensive to God; it causes us to turn away from God.  Our sinful nature seeks to control our life and make us think that our own selfish and self-centered desires are what will truly make us happy.  Our sinful nature clouds our eyes from the truth.  Yet the blood of Christ removes that cloud and makes everything new for us.  We receive a total makeover that gives us a whole new life.  It is not just redone; it is completely changed into the new life as a redeemed child of God. 

   This is the makeover that changes life for us.  We no longer have to face the trials alone, but we have God’s grace guarding us, God’s Spirit guiding us and God’s ear to listen to us and to hear our cries of sadness or gladness.  He gives us our comfort through his Word both spoken and touched.  He comforts us with our fellow redeemed brothers and sisters.  We are completely changed from lonely, selfish beings to ones who seek God and all that he offers us.  We are new creatures, a total makeover.

Gracious Father, you make us new creatures through the Baptism we receive because of Jesus.  We are new in your grace and brought back from the old, decrepit being that we were.  Give us the certainty of hope in you.  Be with those who feel most lost.  Bring them comfort and hope. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-20-2022

Good Morning!    

                 Romans 7:19;” For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

         It was after a worship service one Sunday morning. We had celebrated The Lord’s Supper and now we were having coffee. I happened to stand by one of our younger mothers on the steps while she drank her coffee. She is a kind gal, and her children are cute, polite youngsters. We don’t see them often, but I am glad when they do come. As I sat down, her smile lessened but I cheerfully asked her how she was doing, how her job was going, just general stuff. She looked at me, almost in tears, and in a small voice said, “I really try to do better, but it is so hard.”

    I knew what she meant. She liked coming to worship services, her children loved Sunday School, but life seemed to get in the way of better attendance. I leaned in and told her, “I know you do and so does Jesus but that is not how he looks at us. It is not how hard we try but do we have faith.” I knew the devil was working hard on her trying to drive her away. But the Spirit was going to do what He needed to bring her back home. So, we kept talking. Jesus does not judge her for her failures or us for ours. Jesus did not come to condemn. He did not come with a ruler to rap our knuckles every time we turn around. Jesus came to give us life, to give us hope, to breathe into us the Spirit of the living God.

   Now be clear, she needs to come to worship more. Not as a law but as a way to help her deal with her fears and her doubts. Worship is where God invites us to come and partake of His goodness. It is in worship that we hear God tell us of his love for us, that our sins are forgiven, that we are valued by Him, that we are now eternal heirs of the kingdom. We need to hear that and be reminded of that so we can hold to that truth a little harder and so the devil’s lies are a little weaker. We need to attend worship, not to appease God but to fill a void in our souls, an emptiness that the devil would rather fill with lies and worries, deceits, and anxieties. The God of hope comes to give us hope not demands or regulations but loving guidance and nurturing of faith.

    It has been a while since we have seen her and her little ones, life is still hard and it gets in the way, but Jesus continues to call her, to invite her back to find the comfort and peace He came to give her, to help her gain strength and find refuge in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Remember, it is not that you try hard to be better, the devil will always point out that you can always do better. Jesus points to his hands and his side and says, “I love you this much, all is paid for, come my child and find peace and rest in me.” Find your peace and your rest in Jesus, for He came to give life.

Gracious Lord, you give us abundant life. Guard us by your Spirit to hold fast to your grace and mercy. Be with those who struggle with the lies of the devil today. Strengthen them and uplift them that they may know your hope. Keep all in your loving arms and in your watchful care. In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret