The Ransomed Shall Return

Read this today as part of CPH's daily devotion, Portals of Prayer. This passage really speaks to Advent, in my opinion. I think it's one of the most beautiful pieces of scripture that I haven't stumbled upon yet. So much of Isaiah gets wrapped up in Isaiah 6, 40, 53, 55, and hey those are some great places to read/reflect/and to meditate. But Isaiah 35 is an absolute gem in my opinion. The ESV heading gets you ready for it, "The Ransomed Shall Return." God's vengeance is stored up for our enemies: sin, death, and the devil. This will be one heck of a parade on this Highway of Righteousness! Happy reading.

The Ransomed Shall Return

What Shall We Do?

Today's post comes from Concordia Publishing House's daily devotional, Portals of Prayer:

Devotional Reading for: 12/6/2009 Associated Scripture Readings: Luke 3:10-18 Psalm 66:1-12

What Shall We Do?

The crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” Luke 3:10

As we live in this time after Jesus’ first coming in Bethlehem and waiting for His second coming at the end of time, many people want to know: what shall we do? What does God expect of us? The crowds asked this question of John the Baptist as he prepared the way for Jesus. John’s answer was simply this: do what has been given you to do. Perform your vocations in honesty and love. Some people think that is not enough. We must do bigger and better things for God! But it is enough, because Jesus came to do all that is required of us. His perfect life, death, and resurrection set us free from the obligation of the Law. In Jesus, we are children of God. Our sins are forgiven, and we have the promise of eternal life. Jesus has done it all for us! What then is there for us to do to earn God’s love? Nothing? Freed from the burden of the Law, we give ourselves in service to God and service to our neighbor. As Luther said, “God doesn’t need our good works, but our neighbor does.” Jesus has set you free to love and serve others, whether you are a parent, student, soldier, or baptizer. What you do is important.

Lord God, thank You for setting me free from my sins in Christ Jesus. Help me to use my freedom to serve my neighbor in honesty and love. Amen.

December 25th

Maybe this seems more appropriate to be an actual December 25th post, but I found this too good to not share right away.

In our culture there is this profound "fact" that December 25th is strictly a pagan holiday adopted by Christians. Granted, as the article points out, many pagan practices do come over to the more modern (and postmodern) sector but the actual origins of celebrating Christmas on December 25th come from this idea of tying creation/redemption together. The author posits, with evidence provided, that early Christians tied Jesus' conception (March 25th) to his passion (on or around March 25th). And exactly nine months following March 25th is, you guessed it, December 25th. He cites St. Augustine among others for this.

Have at it yourself and weigh it against the abundance of other noise in our culture. I found it to be a nice read which gives Christians of all stripes a reason to celebrate Christmas on December 25th even if in the past they were afraid of celebrating it because it is "pagan." And most importantly this idea that Christmas also points to the cross. That's really what the origins of celebrating Christmas on December 25th seem to be about. Enjoy!

Why December 25th?

The Useful Sinner

Over the summer while shadowing Pr. Jonathan Priest of St. John's Brooklyn, I had the opportunity to follow him in his day to day life as a pastor. Part of that day to day life was going into Manhattan really early (7am) on Thursday mornings to meet up with a group of young 30-somethings, also living in the Greatest City in the World, who are devout Christians. A few of these guys happen to run/post on the renowned Christian blog, Mockingbird. During one of those Thursday mornings one of the guys who runs the blog, David Zahl, tossed me a tiny book called The Useful Sinner by J. David Hawkins.

The Useful Sinner is about a man who had a long sexual relationship with a woman who is not his wife and the aftermath of the whole thing. The first thing his wife did when he confessed to her was grab his hand and make him kneel at the bed with her and to pray. In the midst of her hurt, in the midst of her anguish, she gave her traitor husband grace. The book goes on to detail how just because they both wanted to work it out did not make it easy. They had to deal with the other woman and her husband, how their marriage ended because of it, and the public perceptions caused by the affair. The man's image was tarnished, and even worse his own wife now had a tarnished image for being attached to such a creep. Yet in the end through much prayer and counseling they worked it out.

I bring this up because of the findings of the last week of this weird Tiger Woods story. Today the world's #1 golfer, and richest athlete admitted to letting his family down and "transgressions." I hope and pray for Tiger's sake that his wife Elin is as gracious as the woman in the story. And that they would seek out the God of reconciliation in hopes of repairing their badly damaged marriage.

I think the problem with lifting up celebrities is we expect them to be better than ourselves. We want celebrities to be what we cannot be, gods on earth. This does not excuse Tiger's behavior whatsoever, but I think it is a common result of what happens when we push pride ahead of what we really are--dirty, rotten sinners. Tiger is fully responsible for what happened to his family and nobody else. But the idolizing of him that so many have done, myself being chief, does not help. Celebrities begin to believe their invincibility and seek out hidden lives to suppress something they never could handle. And many times this comes in the form of sexual sin and as a result despair.

Tiger seems to be in despair, and I hope he is. What he did is inexcusable and he needs to be forthright in that and feel the sting of that. But I also hope Tiger and his family find reconciliation in the Gospel of Hope that extends further beyond any possible despair or sin. Tiger Woods is a sinner, no kidding, he is a human being. This above any injury or "loss" on the golf course proves this. The question of whether or not Tiger Woods was really human stops with this story. He is human, the same fallen human the rest of us are. I think it would do everyone, myself included, a lot to just admit we're sinners and combat temptation that way instead of pretending we're above temptation or falling. Any one of us could fall like Tiger has, and that is the lesson we should take away from this.

In The Useful Sinner, the adulterous husband comes across St. Paul's words in Romans 7, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me." --Romans 7:15-20

This is the cry of every human. We always do things we hate. Tiger Woods is no exception. Our hope is found in Jesus Christ who, in the flesh, overcame every temptation that we cannot withstand. I hope in this Advent Season Tiger and his wife Elin and their whole family can find the restoration, hope, and reconciliation that is only found in the God who took up residence in human flesh to beat back sin, death, and every evil.