Wednesday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 21, 2020 by under
Scripture: 1 John 5:1-3 (NKJV)
5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Devotion
St. John continues to teach us faith and love. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, that He is our Advocate and the propitiation for the sins of the world, that one is born of God. Faith regenerates us. Faith in Christ rebirths us as sons of God. John wrote in his Gospel, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Faith in Christ makes us new men and women since we are justified by faith alone.
This faith, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, creates new hearts in us, with new movements and motivations. This is why John can say that God’s commandments aren’t burdensome. Believing the Gospel, living according to God’s Law in the Ten Commandments becomes our joy. We delight in the Law of the Lord and look for ways to love God and our neighbors. Melanchthon writes in the Apology, “Therefore, when we have been justified by faith, and regenerated, we begin to fear God, to pray to him, to expect from him aid, to give thanks and praise him, and to obey him in afflictions. We begin also to love our neighbors.” (Ap. Ch. III.4) God’s commandments aren’t burdensome because faith regenerates us. As children of God, justified and fully forgiven, we begin to keep His commandments in love.
Prayer: O Almighty and Most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us, that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldst have done; 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.
