Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Saturday after the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Posted on August 25, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:8-12 (NKJV)

4:8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Devotion

According to His will, the Lord calls His people to a wide variety of vocations in this life, and the calling to the faith is not a call to abandon such vocations. As we are taught in the Table of Duties, we have our standing within the Family, the State, and the Church. We know who we are as baptized children of the Triune God, who have been born into various families, at a given point in time, in a particular nation, and perform various labors according to the abilities which the Lord has provided.

St. Paul declares that the saints of the Thessalonian Church manifested their love toward all the saints: “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.” They were not hypocritical in their walk with their fellow Christians. But they were also faithful in their worldly responsibilities, and St. Paul urged them to continue on in this way: “But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.” Faithfulness in their vocations placed no stumbling stone between them and their unbelieving neighbors.

We pray: Almighty and Merciful God, of whose only gift it comes that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Thy Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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