I attended last Wednesday’s Lenten service at the local Missouri Synod Lutheran church.
The pastor’s main text was James 4:13-15:
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (KJV)
The pastor talked about how tied we are to our calendars, and how we try to be in control through the management of our time. Wanting to be in control—-equal to God—-was the sin in the Garden of Eden. The pastor encouraged us to let go and let God, and that we can trust Christ because his nail-marked hands demonstrate his love for us.
Of course, I will continue to schedule. The pastor will probably continue to schedule. His point probably was not that we should not schedule, but that we should reflect. Here we are, trying to be in control, and our lives are a vapor. They go by so fast. Plus, we are vulnerable as we go through life. We should reflect on God, who is truly in control.
The pastor also told a story about when he was in high school, and a classmate and he were discussing religion. The classmate asked, “Why does God care how we live, anyway? How does it affect him?” The pastor regarded that question as immature, and he thought that the classmate wanted to live his own life as he wished, without answering to God. I think it is a question worth exploring. Here God is, great and powerful. Why does God care what we do? A lot of answers can be proposed. God loves righteousness and hates wickedness and its effects, and God, as one who loves God’s creatures, desires that they live in shalom with each other rather than harming one another. God created us to be God’s image-bearers, exercising wise dominion over creation. God desires that we rest in God as the ultimate, rather than ourselves, as God is greater, and we can do better when we worship what is beyond ourselves. There may be other answers out there.
The pastor’s main text was James 4:13-15:
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (KJV)
The pastor talked about how tied we are to our calendars, and how we try to be in control through the management of our time. Wanting to be in control—-equal to God—-was the sin in the Garden of Eden. The pastor encouraged us to let go and let God, and that we can trust Christ because his nail-marked hands demonstrate his love for us.
Of course, I will continue to schedule. The pastor will probably continue to schedule. His point probably was not that we should not schedule, but that we should reflect. Here we are, trying to be in control, and our lives are a vapor. They go by so fast. Plus, we are vulnerable as we go through life. We should reflect on God, who is truly in control.
The pastor also told a story about when he was in high school, and a classmate and he were discussing religion. The classmate asked, “Why does God care how we live, anyway? How does it affect him?” The pastor regarded that question as immature, and he thought that the classmate wanted to live his own life as he wished, without answering to God. I think it is a question worth exploring. Here God is, great and powerful. Why does God care what we do? A lot of answers can be proposed. God loves righteousness and hates wickedness and its effects, and God, as one who loves God’s creatures, desires that they live in shalom with each other rather than harming one another. God created us to be God’s image-bearers, exercising wise dominion over creation. God desires that we rest in God as the ultimate, rather than ourselves, as God is greater, and we can do better when we worship what is beyond ourselves. There may be other answers out there.