Thursday after the Eighth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 3, 2023 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
“For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” This is such a wonderful statement of Jesus that can easily be turned on its head and leave one doubting where one stands with God. The word “does” can easily bring to mind works of the Law. When one thinks, “I need to be doing the will of the Father,” a doubt will most certainly arise: “Have I?”
So what is the “will of My Father” of which Jesus is speaking? In John 6:39 Jesus speaks of His Father’s will: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” The comfort we have as Christians is knowing God’s plan for us is goodness. The Gospel, not the Law, brings us the comfort of knowing that God’s plan of salvation is His good work in us and through us.
Our ability to do “the will of the Father” comes through the working of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Every day, He brings us to repentance and forgiveness of sins. Indeed, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” When the doubt arises, “Have I? Have I done the will of God the Father?” we can say, “Yes! Through Christ my Lord and Savior!”
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.
