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Life’s Priorities and Salvation

Feb 22
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

On this Ash Wednesday I thought I would reflect on part of one of the texts assigned for the day, but one that is not always the focus for Ash Wednesday worship services.  Paul is writing to the Corinthians, and he is telling them that “now is the day of salvation.” (more…)

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Mardi Gras

Feb 21
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Matthew 9:14-15

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Today is Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday,” the day before Lent begins with its Ash Wednesday seriousness.  I picked this scripture reading for today because I noticed that my thoughts had turned quite serious lately, even before Lent had begun.  Even Jesus understands that there are times to celebrate and to have fun.  He uses the image of a wedding to make his point. (more…)

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Listening for God

Feb 20
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Exodus 19:7–9a

7 So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 The people all answered as one: “Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.”

A question came up in a recent Bible study, “How do you know if it is God who is really speaking to you?”  We usually hear God’s voice internally in our mind.  We don’t hear God speaking as directly as when someone’s speech can be measured in decibels.  I suggested to the questioner that we need to ask if what we think we are hearing from God fits with what we know about God.  Is there consistency between what God is saying to us now and what God has been saying all along? (more…)

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Ignorance and Stupidity

Feb 17
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

1 Timothy 1:12–14

12 I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The author uses the word “ignorant” in this passage, and that made me think of the difference between stupidity and ignorance.  A long time ago someone taught me the difference.  Ignorance is not knowing, while stupidity is a lack of intelligence.  There are many ignorant people, but not many stupid people.  All of us are ignorant about some things, and a person who lacks normal intelligence is to be loved and not ridiculed. (more…)

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The Smell of a Christian

Feb 16
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

2 Corinthians 2:14–17

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.

I guessed I would know this passage of scripture, even before I turned to it in my Bible, but I was wrong.  I am quite familiar with 1 Corinthians, but not so much with 2 Corinthians.  I was struck by Paul’s use of the image of aroma or fragrance.  It came as a surprise to me this morning. (more…)

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Jesus’ Second Sign

Feb 15
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

John 4:46–54

46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” 53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54 Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

I like this text for a few different reasons.  Most importantly, the royal official trusted in Jesus’ power.  He was a royal official, and Jesus could still be considered just a carpenter’s son.  Cana is the home area for Jesus, since Cana is near to Nazareth, Jesus’ home town.  The royal official might have tried to use his authority and power to get Jesus to travel the 25 miles from Cana to Capernaum.  He might have even threatened Jesus.  He did not.  He trusted Jesus and Jesus’ words to him. (more…)

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Groups and Individuality

Feb 14
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

1 Corinthians 10:23–24

23 All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other.

This text is part of a section in which St. Paul is emphasizing the importance of the group, and that we are part of the body of Christ.  Specifically, he is talking about whether a Christian could eat food that had been offered at pagan idol worship, and then sold in the marketplace.  That specific example does not apply to us, thankfully.  His main point certainly does. (more…)

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Living Joyfully

Feb 13
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Matthew 9:10–14

10And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Matthew 22:35–40

35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? 37He said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Last Friday’s devotional struck a nerve with my pastor wife.  She said to me, “You have a different understanding of sin than I do.”  My devotional last Friday reflected an understanding of sin that is often described as “missing the mark.”  We fall short of doing what we know we should do.  That is certainly what was in that devotional.  Her understanding of sin is “being apart from God.”  Hers is more a state of being than a sum of all our misdeeds. (more…)

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Disease and Sin

Feb 10
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Leviticus 14:1-6; 19-20

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 This shall be the ritual for the leprous person at the time of his cleansing:  He shall be brought to the priest; 3 the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall make an examination. If the disease is healed in the leprous person, 4 the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedarwood and crimson yarn and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed. 5 The priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel. 6 He shall take the living bird with the cedarwood and the crimson yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water.

19 the priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering; 20 and the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement on his behalf and he shall be clean.

When I read this passage for today, I knew I wanted to cut out many of the details.  They were not necessary for the idea that jumped into my mind this morning.  It really is a question, “What is the connection between sin and disease?”  I have no knowledge that leprosy in the ancient world was caused by any sinful activity.  It just happened. (more…)

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God’s Anger and Love

Feb 09
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Psalm 30:4–5

4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

There are so many people who have not heard the message of the Lutheran Reformation.  That message is right here in this psalm.  Martin Luther was seeking after a kind and loving God.  He found that God as he studied the scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  God chooses to love us.  That is the nature of God.  As the psalmist writes, “his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime.” (more…)

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