Monday after the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 25, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 22:31-38 (NKJV)
22:31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”
34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
35 And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?”
So they said, “Nothing.”
36 Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. 37 For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”
38 So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”
And He said to them, “It is enough.”
Devotion
The tool that the devil uses against many is the sin of pride. When we become full of ourselves and put confidence in our own ability to stand, we neglect the grace of God. We do not hold fast to the Word and the work of the Spirit because we think we are sufficient of ourselves to persevere. That is when the Enemy strikes. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).
But “a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again” (Prov. 24:16). The power to rise again after a fall into temptation does not come from within us. It is the grace of God alone, worked in us by His Spirit, through the application of Law and Gospel, that restores us and keeps us in the one true Faith. After his restoration, St. Peter would later write that the Church is kept by the power of God through faith for salvation (1 Pet. 1:5). He writes that the devil prowls around like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, and Peter exhorts us to resist him and remain steadfast in the faith (1 Pet. 5:8-9). If we are to persevere, we must appeal to God’s grace which is offered, given, and sealed to us in the Word and Sacraments, and abandon all thought of self-sufficiency. Only by constant humility and ceaseless, trustful prayer for the sustaining strength of God can we hope to remain faithful to the end.
Prayer: Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy household, the Church, in continual godliness, that through Thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve Thee in good works, to the glory of Thy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee 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.
