Silverstreet Lutheran Church

Sunday School 10:00 a.m.
Worship 11:00. a.m.
Pastor Harry Crout

Scripture Readings for:
October 20,2019
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

First Reading: Genesis 32:22-13
Psalm 121
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel Reading: Luke 18:1-8

Reformation Sunday October 27th.

MONTHLY DEVOTIONS

"Welcomed as Sons and Daughters"

1 John 3:1-2 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

What a strong passage of Scripture to consider on this Reformation!

See how the Father loves us, it says. Look at the kind of love He has shown-- the paternal patience, the gentle prodding to faith, the complete preoccupation with our will-being. He shows us the heartfelt embrace of love that a parent has for his son or daughter. That is the love God has for us.

And that we should be called His children--not the lost orphans we once were, not the rebellious haters who despised both self and others--but His children. This gift of eternal kinship is ours through the faith we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus. He's the One who found us as lost sheep, who searched for us like a lost coin, who welcomes home the problem child--even when that child squandered everything.

And the reason why the world doesn't know us? How could it? We're aliens in a strange land. We're not the world's kind anymore. We're new creations being shaped by the same hand the world nailed to the cross. If we were like we were, we'd be recognizable to the world and greeted with open arms. But we're not; "we are God's children now."

And yet we're becoming something more. We're being molded daily into His image--refined to be like Him, to speak like Him, to forgive like Him and, most definitely, to love like Him. We are like those early believers in Antioch who were taught by Paul and Barnabas and who, likewise, were transformed by God. So much so, that outsiders saw them as distinct and gave them a name: "Christians" or Little Christs.
(See Acts 11:19-26.)

And finally the passages says, one day--and not very long from now-- "we shall see Him as He is."

Can we possibly imagine what that Day will be like--when we see Him as He is? No doubt we will thank God for His grace and mercy. We will praise Him for the wondrous gift of His Son whose defeat of death made all of heaven possible. We might even go up to the Father--can you picture it--and sit on His lap.

After all, we are His children.

The Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we are Your children, for that's what You call us. Washed in Jesus' blood, You take us to your side. We love and thank You for this. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

This Devotion was written by
Paul Schreiber.

Lutheran Hour Ministries
www.lhm.org