Friday after the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 19, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 17:1-2 (NKJV)
17:1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
Devotion
Offenses will come and sin will cause problems. It will continue to happen until our Lord Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. However, as St. Paul says in Romans 6:1-2: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” Sin and pride always have bad consequences, so we should always strive to avoid sin. Knowing that Christ forgives our sins does not justify our laziness, carelessness, or any other type of negligence toward God’s commandments.
Through faith we know that God forgives our sins when we repent of them. But even after we have been absolved, the sin can leave damage. We should avoid causing that damage whenever we can. Our in-born sinfulness will always fight against us until the Resurrection, so we can never live perfectly, but our Lord still calls us to strive to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48).
Those who cause offense with no concern for faithfulness and repentance will also be an on-going problem in this life. The damaging unrighteousness that they spread heaps woe upon woe as they corrupt others. Even our loving God says it would be better for them if they were removed and punished than for them to harm themselves and others. But God allows Satan and evil men to bring offenses because His holy, perfect will uses such things to bring about the greater good. We may not always understand, but we do have His gracious, enduring promises.
Collect: O God, Whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; 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.
