Wishing You Had Never Been Born – 40 Day Journey with
Martin Luther – Day 12 - Purity 1285
Purity 1285 02/27/2024 Purity 1285 Podcast
Purity 1285 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a palm tree’s leaves, a lighthouse in the distance, and a pink sunset
sky comes to us from a currently unknown Facebook friend who posted this scene
on social media on or around August 6, 2020. If this is your fond remembrance
photo, let me know and I will give photo credit where photo credit is due by
updating the blog after the fact.
Well, It’s Tuesday and I share this photo feeling a
bit forlorn and down this morning as I have decided to take the next step in a
campaign of “tough love” with my son, Brennan, giving him 30 days notice to get
a job and to resume paying me towards his debts or to vacate my premises. Oh joy.
Brennan inexplicably stopped going to work in
January and has been lethargic ever since. While I could wait and just watch
him eventually suffer from being penniless to the point where he couldn’t pay
for his car insurance or cell phone or purchase food, I decided to advise him
that he needs to start working again and paying his debts within the next 30
days or he could find another place to live. You can choose to suffer from
being depressed, lazy, or whatever but it doesn’t mean you have a right to make
me watch it.
Brennan wasn’t happy with this notice that would
cause him to get a job or get out and lamented that he wished he had never been
born and that he never asked to be in a world where his value is based on the
money he brings to the table. I get it… the
world sticks, and I wish I never had to work and I wish my value was never
determined by the home I provide but that’s the way of the world and while you
can run from it, you can’t hide and as the Lord told us way back in Genesis
that man has to work ( Genesis 1:28, 3:17-19) and our emotions and quality of
life will be dictated by our decision to do what is right (Genesis 4:6-7) according
to God.
As much as we must work and eke out a living here on
earth, our value is not determined by the money we make or the things we can
provide others with. Our value is
determined by God, our creator. He made us above all other creatures by making
us in His image but for our true value to be realized we must be “redeemed” through
the blood of Jesus and our faith in Him as Lord and Savior. Our lives on earth are only so long and
unless we are redeemed by our faith in Jesus, our lives will be a waste as we
are consigned to hell.
One of those verses in Genesis that tells us that we
must work also tells us about the end of our lives on earth:
Genesis 3:19 (NLT2)
19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you
return to the ground from which you were made.
For you were made from dust, and
to dust you will return.”
That last phrase
is used on Ash Wednesday, to draw us into repentance with the not-too-subtle
message – you will die – but in Christ you can live – so “repent and believe in
the gospel” .
The suffering of this world may cause us to wish we
were never born, but we were and unless we want to suffer more in this world –
we will need to do what’s right – to work and be responsible for ourselves –
and unless we want to suffer for all eternity – we need to draw close to God, repent,
and put our faith in Jesus. So in the
season of Lent – let’s draw close – repent – and live.
It’s the twelfth day of Lent and so we continue my
personal walkthrough of Gracia Grindal’s 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther
to observe and celebrate the Lenten season.
In this walk through Grindal’s devotional, it is our hope that we will get to know
Martin Luther a little better as we seek to draw closer to the Lord on our
journey to Resurrection Sunday – Easter.
And so we continue.
“Journey Day 12
YOU
ARE NOT TO STEAL
What
is this?
Answer:
We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbor's money or
property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but
instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.
We
are forbidden to do our neighbors any injury or wrong in any way imaginable,
whether by damaging, withholding, or interfering with their possessions or
property. We are not even to consent to or permit such a thing but are rather
to avert and prevent it. In addition, we are commanded to promote and further
our neighbor's interests, and when they suffer any want, we are to help, share,
and lend to both friends and foes. Anyone who seeks and desires good works will
find here more than enough things to do that are heartily acceptable and
pleasing to God.
Biblical Wisdom
Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and
where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew
6: 19-21.
Silence for Meditation.
Questions to Ponder
· What
is the relationship between the commandment not to steal and the Christian's
attitude toward possessions? Toward poverty?
The
commandment shows us that possessions have value and that we are not to obtain
possessions through crooked means and by implication it puts poverty in a
negative light. The subtle message in the commandment is that it is good to
have possessions – they have value – we are not to take them from others – that
would be wrong and thus we should respect other’s rights to their property and
work to earn our own.
· According
to Luther, how are we to consider our neighbor's property, and how are we to
use our own wealth and possessions with respect to the neighbor? How would the
world change if Christians followed Luther's advice?
Luther indicates that we
are to help our neighbors to protect and to increase their interests to help
them flourish. The world would be a
better place if we followed Luther’s advice.
· How
can a faith community help people to have a healthy relationship with money and
possessions?
A faith community can help
people to have a healthy relationship with money and possessions by teaching
about good stewardship, the focus on helping others, and the brevity of life on
earth. Sharing Jesus’s teaching on investing in the kingdom of God and the folly
of amassing worldly treasure and teaching good financial habits could cause
people to have a proper understanding of what their relationship to money will
be.
Psalm Fragment
Put
no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; If riches
increase, do not set your heart on them. Psalm 62: 10
Journal Reflections
· Write
about how your attitude toward money and possessions influences (and is
influenced by) your spiritual life.
Money
can’t buy you love or happiness but it does pay the bills – so work for what
you need and what you want in life and don’t hold on too tightly to anything. Our
life of faith matter more.
· How
does your attitude toward money and possessions influence your relationships
with others?
It makes
it difficult because I expect others to be responsible.
· Reflect
on both your earthly and heavenly treasures. Write about how well you balance
your life between the material and the spiritual.
I try
to keep a balance. I do like my things and to be somewhat secure
financially. But I place a great value
on my faith and would sacrifice all my earthly possessions to follow the Lord.
I am currently trying to be a good father by giving my adult children a safe
and affordable place to live but that has its difficulties and I am trying to
be a good steward to what I have been given.
Prayers for the Life of Faith
Pray
that you will balance your own life and your use of what you own so that you
will be able to help others with what you have.
Pray for Today
Lord
Jesus, teach me to use what you have given me wisely; Give me a good sense for
what is best both for my neighbor and my own life.
(Gracia M. Grindal. 40-day
Journey With Martin Luther. Kindle Edition.)
(We encourage you to purchase Grindal’s book and
take the 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther for yourself by purchasing Grindal’s
book wherever books are sold. You can find it online at many different sites
and purchase it new, used – paper or electronic for less than $15.00).
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse come to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick
Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late
author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Conscience.
Hebrews 9:14 (NIV2011)
14 How much more, then, will
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished
to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may
serve the living God!
Today’s
verse falls under the sixth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Conscience.
6. Christ will give you a clear conscience.
Today’s
verse points to the fact that our faith cleanses us from the sin that leads to
death, but it indicates that we are to be committed to following and serving
him. We can’t live in sin with a clean
conscience. We have to repent.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A
Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for less than $10 at many sites.
MORNING READING: LUKE 1
“He will turn many of the children of
Israel
to the Lord their God.” – Luke 1:16
What a blessed mission for a Son of Adam! Truly, “How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad
tidings of good things!” (Rom. 10:15).
Because of such a mission, John the Baptist was to be
“great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15). As to John himself, he was to
touch no strong drink and he was to be filled with the Spirit from his very
birth.
The application of these few thoughts is obvious. The Lord
has said, “He that wins souls is wise” (Prov. 11:30), that is, great in His
sight. But in order to be qualified to “turn many to righteousness” (Daniel
12:3), the message to be worked out in practical experience is “Do not be drunk
with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18,
emphasis mine).
May I be filled with Your spirit,
Lord,
in order to bear witness to Your grace and truth.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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These teachings are also available on the
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her
Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional
Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).