Friday, June 30, 2006
Friday in the Third week of Pentecost
Everything depends upon the call of God. St. Paul would not have preached had he not been rightly called. But even though he had once persecuted the church, since he was called by the grace of God and ordained as Christ’s apostle, even chief-of-sinners Paul dared preach the Gospel that Jesus Christ is crucified and risen!
Not all are called into the Holy Ministry, but many are chosen by the grace of God and called into the priesthood of the Baptized. By that, each one speaks according to his individual vocation.
As baptized children of the Father, you speak as unbelievers cannot. You say, “Our Father.” Only the Christian can speak that way. It is the language of the Baptized, of those who are called by God, adopted by God in Jesus Christ to be His children.
Do not hesitate to speak as God’s forgiven child. Do not hesitate to believe that He is your true Father and you are His true child. With all boldness and confidence ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
Your Father cares about what troubles you. He has something to say and do about it. Your sins are forgiven! You have a home in heaven.
As surely as He gave apostles like Paul and Peter the right to speak and serve as ministers of the Gospel, He has given you the right to tug on His ear and call on His Name. That is proper speaking for God’s children!
The Lord may not have set you apart from your mother’s womb to be a pastor or apostle, but He has set you apart from the font of Holy Baptism to be separate from this world, from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. He has called you holy, His precious child in Jesus. With that, He has given you a place in which to live and speak and serve, certain that He is pleased with you because of Jesus.
Are you a son or daughter? Are you a brother or a sister? Are you a father, mother, wife, husband? God has given you someone to be “child of God” to! Run along now in God’s good pleasure, beaming of all that your heavenly Father has done for you in Jesus.
“’Our Father.’ ‘What does this mean?’ ‘With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our dear Father, and that we are His dear children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” (Lord’s Prayer, Introduction, SC)
Daily Readings
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Galatians 3:15-22
Matthew 14:22-36 ¶ 6/30/2006 08:56:00 AM
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace.” (Galatians 1:11-20)
Everything depends upon the call of God. St. Paul would not have preached had he not been rightly called. But even though he had once persecuted the church, since he was called by the grace of God and ordained as Christ’s apostle, even chief-of-sinners Paul dared preach the Gospel that Jesus Christ is crucified and risen!
Not all are called into the Holy Ministry, but many are chosen by the grace of God and called into the priesthood of the Baptized. By that, each one speaks according to his individual vocation.
As baptized children of the Father, you speak as unbelievers cannot. You say, “Our Father.” Only the Christian can speak that way. It is the language of the Baptized, of those who are called by God, adopted by God in Jesus Christ to be His children.
Do not hesitate to speak as God’s forgiven child. Do not hesitate to believe that He is your true Father and you are His true child. With all boldness and confidence ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
Your Father cares about what troubles you. He has something to say and do about it. Your sins are forgiven! You have a home in heaven.
As surely as He gave apostles like Paul and Peter the right to speak and serve as ministers of the Gospel, He has given you the right to tug on His ear and call on His Name. That is proper speaking for God’s children!
The Lord may not have set you apart from your mother’s womb to be a pastor or apostle, but He has set you apart from the font of Holy Baptism to be separate from this world, from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. He has called you holy, His precious child in Jesus. With that, He has given you a place in which to live and speak and serve, certain that He is pleased with you because of Jesus.
Are you a son or daughter? Are you a brother or a sister? Are you a father, mother, wife, husband? God has given you someone to be “child of God” to! Run along now in God’s good pleasure, beaming of all that your heavenly Father has done for you in Jesus.
“’Our Father.’ ‘What does this mean?’ ‘With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our dear Father, and that we are His dear children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” (Lord’s Prayer, Introduction, SC)
Daily Readings
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Galatians 3:15-22
Matthew 14:22-36 ¶ 6/30/2006 08:56:00 AM
