“Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me” (Matthew 27:9-10).

Our God knows all things.  The beginning and the end are in His view.  He knew what would happen and told us so that we might believe.  Sinners may sell off God in their hearts for trinkets (which He made), but the faith He gives you is the most precious thing, for it leads to life itself.  Evil begets death.  God offers life through the One who was handed over to death.  But God is good, and death cannot reign.

Lord, in the mysteries of this life, help me to better understand the gift of faith which You have given me.  Guide me in my daily living to humbly recognize all the places in Your word where You are speaking to me clearly and succinctly.  Help me, Lord Jesus, so that I may walk with You now and forever in the true and real life You give by grace.  Your word speaks truth.  Where else can I go but to You?

Lord Jesus, sinners do dumb things.  Your word has spoken truth in order that I may know You, who is Truth Incarnate.  No price can be set on Your head, for all things have come into being through You.  In You, all things are being made new.  Guide me in the life of faith which You have given me that I may grow each day into Your likeness.  Teach me now and always to live in Your love.  Amen.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (St. Paul, writing in Philippians 2:3)

As our nation faces another shocking set of murders, it’s good to pause and remember why Christians walk a different path.  After all, it’s one thing to know your morals, and quite another to know why they’re your morals.  Why should we reject rivalry and conceit?

We can surely see the danger of both sins.  Rivalry led to the first murder on earth: Cain killing his brother Abel because Abel had the more acceptable sacrifice.  Conceit abetted the worse murder on earth: Jesus on the cross, arrested by those who thought themselves better than him.  The spirit of rivalry and pride—the hatred of our neighbor—lurks beneath every murder.  

But knowing a sin’s potential danger is not enough.  Our sinful hearts can quickly imagine an exception for ourselves, a justification for sin that makes us imagine that we can manage the risk. Better to know the true foundation of our morality: God gave His Son for sinners.   

Because God stands at the center of all reality, that sacrificial love for all people stands there, too.  God counted sinners more significant than Himself, so significant that He gave His life for theirs.  Being His children, and thus desiring to live in harmony with Him, we follow on that same path: no rivalry, no conceit, no murder, but only loving neighbors as our true selves.  

LET US PRAY: Forgive me, Lord.  I’d rather love myself than my neighbor, and so I do, on most days.  I am not You, Lord, as You know full well, and I often forget.  Yet since it is Your glory to have compassion on the sinner, have compassion on me.  By Your Holy Spirit grant that I would learn to find my true self not in myself, but in Your Son, and so also in His neighbors, and thus forgetting myself, love You and neighbor alike; through Christ Your Son.  Amen

Pastor Steven K. Gjerde

Zion, Wausau