Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Monday after Ad te levavi, The First Sunday in Advent

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Matthew 11:25-30 (NKJV)
 
11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
 
Devotion
 
Our Lord teaches us humility by His Words, His actions, and His Spirit. The devil and the world constantly try to teach us otherwise. Pride and vanity are proclaimed as virtues by what the world says and does. The devil’s falsehoods tell us that we ought to be wise in our own eyes and “prudent” according to popular opinions. But Jesus Christ shows us the Truth that comes from above.
 
Faith makes us humble. Fear, love, and trust in the true God makes us lowly in heart as we know our sinfulness and repent of it. The devil teaches us to justify our sins through wisdom and prudence, apart from simple childlike faith in Jesus Christ crucified. A faithful heart has no pride or boastfulness in itself, but it simply waits for the Lord’s grace and mercy.
 
And faith in Christ makes us gentle, like He is. This gentleness is expressed in the love that we are made to show others in observing His commandments. His Spirit teaches us and enables us to serve as He exemplified in His own life. He comes to work through us as we do those acts of faith that the Ten Commandments set before us, which in turn give glory to our Father through the Son as we are part of His Body, the Church.
 
We pray: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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