DAILY DEVOTIONAL – February 10, 2020

“Renewing Rebuke” 

Prayer:  Our God and Father, You see the depths of our hearts and there are no secrets with You.  We know as we stand before You that we are deserving of judgement and punishment, yet, even when You saw the depravity of our sin, You did not punish us but sent Your Son Jesus instead.  Thank You Lord for Your amazing grace.  Lead our hearts into repentance each day so that we may receive the fullness of the salvation You died to give us.  Amen.

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Devotional – “Renewing Rebuke”

Each week as I prepare for my sermon and Bible Study, I am always left with the same challenge.  There is an endless wealth of wisdom and blessing in the Word of God, and we could honestly spend a lifetime on each single passage of Scripture.  Selecting which material to use and focus on each week is a never ending difficulty.

For today’s devotional, I would like to share with you an impactful story that I could not fit in this past Sunday in either my sermon or in Bible Study.

It is a true story as told by Sister Helen P. Mrosla in the book, “All the Good Things”.  Sister Mrosla was a nun and Catholic school teacher.  In the book she shares this story about the lasting impact and influence of loving correction.

He was in the first third grade class I taught as Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minnesota. All thirty-four of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, he had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.

Mark also talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was unacceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving–“Thank you for correcting me, Sister!”

One morning my patience was growing thin …. “If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!”

It wasn’t ten seconds later when he was talking again. … Since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. … I tore off two pieces of masking tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. 

As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark’s desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, “Thank you for correcting me, Sister.”

Sister Helen would go on to teach Mark again in High School. Mark wasn’t as talkative as he was in grade school, but he and the other boys were nonetheless mischievous and often in need of correction.  

Years later, Sister Helen was informed that Mark Eklund was killed in Vietnam. She was asked by his family to speak at his funeral. She was surprised, but more than willing to go and share what she remembered of that mischievous little boy.

There she learned that this young man whom she’d not seen in many years had often spoken of her and their time together in grade school and high school. She had left a lasting, loving impression on him. In fact, a memento of his school days with her (an assignment from 9th grade listing all his positive attributes) was found in his pocket upon his death.

 “All I could think at that moment,” said Sister Helen, “was, Mark, I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me.” 

I think Mark was talking to her. I think the memento in the pocket of this mischievous young boy who grew to be a responsible, patriotic hero spoke volumes: “Thank you, Sister Helen, for correcting me!”

This story is a great reminder of how important it is that we eagerly welcome the Lord’s discipline and correction.  I can’t remember where I first heard this saying, but it is absolutely true, “If you have no shadows, you are not walking in the light.”  The true Christian life is a life of repentance.  As God promised in our passage today from 2 Chronicles, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

It is through repentance that we receive God’s healing.  It is through repentance that we silence the noise of our own sinful thoughts and are able to hear the Lord as He speaks to us through His Word.  It is through repentance that we receive the joy and fulfillment of God’s forgiveness given freely by faith in Jesus Christ.

Thanks for joining me today for another time in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow.  Amen.