Thursday after the Eighth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 11, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 12:46-50 (NKJV)
12:46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”
48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Devotion
“Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Would you like to be counted among the kinsmen of Jesus? The question is rhetorical, of course; the answer is necessarily “yes”. Jesus tells us what is necessary for that: “Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven.” It is simple. Do God’s will.
What, then, is the will of God? According to the Law, His will is what we know as the Ten Commandments, summarized as “be therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). On the one hand, we love God, so we want to. On the other hand, none of us can do it.
Our Lord Jesus Himself gives us another answer: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:29). The people ask what work they must do, and Jesus answers by saying what work God must work in them. That work of God is faith. Dear ones in Christ, repent of your sins. Trust in Jesus and give God thanks for giving you the faith to do so. Do this, and together we will be numbered among the sons of God and be made co-heirs with Christ, rendering thanks to God forever.
Prayer: Grant to us, Lord, we beseech Thee, the Spirit to think and do always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do anything that is good without Thee, may by Thee be enabled to live according to Thy will; 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.
