DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 1, 2020

“Needy Neighbors”

Prayer:  Our God and Creator, when You looked upon us as Your created people You said we were made “very good.”  We admit Lord, that through our sin and rebellion against You we have made evil what You declared to be good.  Our only hope of goodness is found in Your One and only Son Jesus who was indeed perfectly good…good all the way to the cross where He died for us.  Thank You Jesus for Your perfect blood spilled so that we could be forgiven.  By Your power and grace, shine Your light in and through us so that we may bring glory to Your holy name.  Amen.

Scripture – John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Devotional – “Needy Neighbors”

God’s Word is full of God’s instruction, full of laws and rules and restrictions that God has given to His people and that make it clear what our life should not look like.  It is also full of instructions on what He wants us to do and what our life should look like.  God has not given us these rules because He uses them against us or to determine whether or not we have been obedient enough to earn His love and forgiveness.  God knows there is no one who is good enough to obey Him perfectly, that is why God sent His Son Jesus.  God has given us His Word of instruction and His laws to bless us as people that already belong to Him, to we who have been saved by His grace through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the world.  As God’s children of faith, He tells us how we are to live so that we may live lives that glorify Him and that help us to live prosperously and honorably in this life.  God does not command us to obey His commandments and live a righteous life in order that He might save us, He calls us to live a righteous life because He has saved us.  He calls us to live like Christ, because by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, God has made us holy by covering us in the righteous blood of His Son.

To put it simply, we are called to live a life of good works, because God has made us good in Christ.  We are called to shine the light of Christ, because Christ is in us by faith.  Ultimately, only those things done in faith and love and thankfulness toward God for His goodness in Christ Jesus can be considered truly good.  An apple seed makes an apple tree, and an apple tree produces apples.  Likewise, a mustard seed of faith in the goodness of God found in Jesus Christ will produce a life of good works.

As one of my seminary professors always used to say, “God doesn’t need your good works…your neighbor does.”  It’s true isn’t it?  God doesn’t need our good works.  As Scripture makes clear in Romans 5:8, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”  God did not wait for us to live a “good enough” life before He came to save us.  No, He sent Christ to die for us while we were lost in sin…He sent Christ to die for us so that our sins could be forgiven, for it is only in the power of the knowledge of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ, and through the Light of Christ living in and through us, that we are able to do any good at all.

And God has promised that He will indeed shine the Light of His Son Jesus through us as we faithfully and boldly live a life of obedient discipleship in accordance with His Word.  God calls us to submit to Him and to follow His Son Jesus, living out our faith in good and upright lives full of good works, so that we would as Jesus says in Matthew 5, “let our light shine before men, that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven.”

I love the words of St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:5-6.  In this passage Paul brings to our remembrance not only the Creation account from Genesis chapter 1, but also the words of Jesus here in Matthew 5.  Paul says, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

By God’s amazing love and grace, He has made you good by sending Christ to die in your place and rise again from the dead in order to give us new life; a good life.  We worship and love God in thankfulness for His incredible gift by living the righteous life He has called us to live and equipped us to live by giving us His Word and sending His Holy Spirit.  We are not Christians in name only.  Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

God bless you my friends and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow.  Amen.