Daily Reflections From Higher Things®

Today's Reading: 2 Samuel 22:26-34 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 25:23-44; 1 Corinthians 4:1-21 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. (2 Samuel 22:34) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Really, David? Your elderly feet like the feet of a deer? You couldn't even protect your old self from the Philistines and had to be told by your solders to just stay home and not get yourself killed (2 Samuel 21:17). David believed something that his soldiers would not: God the LORD was at work for the sake of His people. Whether David lived or died, it was the mercy of the LORD that would endure. The perfect Word of the LORD always proves true; He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him, old and young alike. David believed the promise that God had made to Adam and Eve, confirmed to Abraham, and restated to him: God would send One who would redeem the world from sin and the death that comes through sin. He would send One who would be King over all the world and live forever. The LORD ke

Today's Reading: Luke 16:1-13 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 25:1-22; 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 You cannot serve God and money (Luke 1:13) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Yes, Jesus, we get it. We cannot serve God and money. If only it were that simple. The new you in Christ says a loud "Amen" to the word of Jesus that concludes the parable of the rich man and the shrewd manager. However, the old sinful you cannot say "Amen" to Jesus' conclusion. We are faithless in the management of much and very little. We love money and the security it brings. If only we had more. We serve money with our time and talent as if it were a god and not a gift from the One whose hand supplies all our needs of body and soul. We get it all backward: We live in service to money instead of recognizing that money serves us. So this parable becomes a call to repentance. Put to death the dishonesty and idolatry that dogs you day by day. We pray with saint/sinner David, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to y

Today's Reading: Introit for Trinity 9 (Psalm 54:1-3, 7; antiphon: v. 4-5) Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 24:1-22; 1 Corinthians 1:26-2:16 O God, save me by your name… (From the Introit for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. David cries out to God in a time of trouble. He is being persecuted by King Saul, and the locals where he is hiding out, the Ziphites, have given him up (1 Samuel 23:19-29, 26:1-5). David is in trouble, his enemies are closing in, and danger is imminent. What does he do? He calls on the Name of the Lord. As you know from your catechism, God's Name is more than His title. It is also His character and reputation. To call on the Name of the Lord is to call on God, who is all powerful and able to save. God commands us to use His Name correctly. How is this done? By doing what David did, namely, "Call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks." Where do you turn when danger is near? Many turn to false gods like money: "If only I were rich, then I would

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 20:24-42; 1 Corinthians 1:1-25 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It isn't easy to be a Christian. People are openly hostile toward us. This is nothing new, as we see in 1 Corinthians. Paul writes: "The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing." The root Greek word here is moros, from which we derive the English word, "moron." This is what many in Paul's day thought of Christians, especially the Greeks and Jews! "But we preach Christ-crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles." For Jews, the idea of a crucified Messiah was an utter contradiction. They thought the Messiah would be a powerful leader like Moses or David. They couldn't understand how an executed criminal could be the promised Messiah. Likewise, Gentiles thought it pure folly, for they loved philosophy and great learning and were also impressed with pow

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 20:1-23; Acts 28:16-31 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. (Acts 28:24) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Why doesn't everyone respond the same way to the Gospel? In Acts 28 we see a mixed response to Paul's mission work among some Jewish leaders in Rome. They had heard about Christians and how this ‘sect' was being spoken against everywhere, but they were willing to let Paul make the case. This is commendable! Paul faced opposition at other times when he was shut down and violently persecuted. But these Jewish leaders at Rome were willing to talk with a fellow Jew about the Kingdom of God and decide if what he said was true. All day Paul expounded from the Scriptures, "testifying to the Kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus." In the end, some were convinced and some weren't. Paul then cited the prophet Isaiah's stern warning about dull hearts, blind eyes, and deaf ears that refuse to repent and be healed. (Acts 28:26-27) This book that t

Today's Reading: The Small Catechism: Baptism Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 19:1-24; Acts 28:1-15 How can water do such great things? (The Small Catechism: Baptism, pt. 3) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Plain water. Not mineral water, spring water, or even water from the Jordan River. We are talking about plain water—but not water alone. Human beings have a tendency to make too much of the ceremony or the physical element in the Sacraments. In the Middle Ages, instead of eating the communion bread, people would sometimes try to sneak a piece of it into their pockets so they could have Jesus with them like a magic charm all week long! People can be very superstitious and miss the point of things. But the big deal in Baptism is not the water, it's the Word of God! "Without God's word the water is plain water and no Baptism. Our faith is not in water but in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who died for our justification and rose again from the dead that we might have life in His Name. Why then put su

Today's Reading: Acts 20:27-38 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 18:10-30; Acts 27:27-44 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever been to the ordination of a new pastor? When a pastor is put into the Office, he is surrounded by other pastors who lay hands on him and speak words of blessing (Acts 6:6, 1 Timothy 4:14). When I participate, I speak Acts 20:28, because this little verse has a lot to say about pastors, the Church, and the Lord. First, it says that pastors have accountability for themselves and their congregation. Like a shepherd who is on the lookout for wolves and wandering sheep, the pastor is to watch over the congregation with a careful eye, but also train this eye on his own life to avoid becoming Satan's prey. Next, we read that God Himself makes and calls pastors to care for the Church through the Holy Spi

Today's Reading: Jeremiah 23:16-29 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 17:48-18:9; Acts 27:9-26 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:16) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Sometimes people speak carelessly in order to sound pious. Have you known Christians who confidently say, "God has put it on my heart," or, "God revealed it to me…"? This way of talking is problematic. Unless you are referencing the Bible, speaking this way can be used to justify sin. Today's passage speaks of lying prophets who claimed to have dreams from God. Instead of calling people to repent, these impostors were telling people whatever they wanted to hear. These false prophets affirmed the sins of denying God's Word and stubbornly following one's own ideas, telling the people everything would be fine (Jeremiah 23:17). Nothing has changed. Some still deny God's Word and convince themselves that God has reve

Today's Reading: Matthew 7:15-23 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 17:20-47; Acts 26:24-27:8 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Our Lord warns us that there will be false teachers to be wary of. Christians want to do this, but we don't always recognize false prophets and false prophets don't advertise that they are false! As Christ said, they come in sheep's clothing, though inwardly they are vicious wolves. He says there is a way to know the difference between the false and the true: "You will know them by their fruit." But some false prophets will even preach Christ and perform miracles in His Name. Surprisingly, some of these hypocrites won't even know they are hypocrites! Jesus says they will be confused at the Last Day, saying, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your Name, and cast out demons in your Name, and do many mighty works in your Name?" It makes us w

Today's Reading: Introit for Trinity 8 (Psalm 48:1, 3, 11, 14; antiphon: v. 9-10) Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 17:1-19; Acts 26:1-23 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised… (From the Introit for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. I once heard an atheist make the snide remark, "Your God must have a low self-esteem, as much as He needs you to praise Him!" That misunderstanding reduces praise of God to cheap flattery. The Lord God does not require anything from us. When the Lord's saints in heaven and on earth praise Him, it is not because He needs us to, but because we need to praise Him! We can't help ourselves. Let's say you lost your phone and couldn't afford a new one. When your friend Gabriel heard, he decided to upgrade to a brand new phone so he could give you the one he was using. What would you do? Of course, you would thank Gabriel and tell him how much you appreciate his kindness. Thanksgiving is a very important kind of praise. But you would probably go beyond that

Today's Reading: Romans 6:19-23 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 16:1-23; Acts 25:13-27 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Freedom! It sounds and feels so sweet! Freedom means getting to do whatever we want with no one telling us what to do, right? That's how many think of freedom. "Just wait until I get out of the house!" It all sounds good until you get to experience that unfettered freedom for the first time and realize the costs that come with freedom. Some learn about these consequences when going off to college for the first time. They stay up all night playing video games, watching movies, surfing the web, or hanging out with friends. Maybe they sleep in and miss a class or two. Others experiment with forbidden fruits: porn, booze, sex, drugs. Mercifully, most young adults learn some hard lessons and figure out how to manage their freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. But sometimes this

Today's Reading: The Small Catechism: Baptism Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 15:10-35; Acts 24:24-25:12 [Baptism] works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe. . . (The Small Catechism: Baptism, pt. 2) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You probably have Christian friends who belong to a church that doesn't baptize infants. While these fellow Christians have much in common with us, like a high regard for Scripture and the belief that we are saved by grace, they are very far from us and from the historic teaching of the Church, and indeed, from Scripture itself on the matter of the Sacraments. What's more, these differences can get pretty heated. Those who deny God's gift of Baptism to little children may question whether your Baptism really counts, if you were baptized as a child. They may even try and tell you that you need to be baptized for real. It comes to down to a question of what Baptism is and does. Is Baptism my promise to God, or God's promise

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 14:47-15:9; Acts 24:1-23 "Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them…" (1 Samuel 15:3) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Today's reading (1 Samuel 15) is a hard text. Samuel commands King Saul to destroy the Amalekites, to kill "both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." There are other places, too, in which God commands the Israelites to do the same to the Canaanites. How are we to make sense of this? Atheists and critics wonder about these things, too, and use these passages as attacks, claiming the God of the Bible commanded genocide or ethnic cleansing. It's easy to just turn the page when you read something like this, and I think a lot of people do. But while we cannot possibly comprehend the mind of God, there are some things that can help us think this through. These commands are limited to a specific time and place. They are not open-ended directions to destroy people of certain tribes or races. In fac

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 13:1-18; Acts 23:12-35 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (Acts 23:12) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Ever feel like people are out to get you? Maybe you have been bullied or had a friend betray you. Maybe someone told lies about you or posted awful things about you on social media. As difficult as that was, it doesn't compare to what Paul went through. Paul was a hated man. As we read in Acts 23, 40 men made an oath not to eat or drink until they killed him. By their actions, you might think those men were outlaws, part of some terrorist cell or a street gang. But they were nothing of the sort. They were religious zealots, ultra-conservatives, wild-eyed fundamentalists convinced they were doing God's will. One of the greatest evils in the world is religion gone bad, for when someone does evil in the name of religion, they actually believe they are doing good and will justify anything. The Jews

Today's Reading: Genesis 2:7-17 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 12:1-25; Acts 22:30-23:11 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Genesis 2:7) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Do you have questions about science and the Bible? Most thoughtful people do, especially when it comes to the issue of creation and what it means to be human. Christians affirm what Scripture teaches: that God spoke the world into existence and willed everything into being. The other side contends that everything in this universe just happened by random chance and came about as a result of an accident. This is ultimately what the science and faith debate is about: Is there purpose or meaning to this life and everything in it, or is the universe just a bunch of random, meaningless chaos? Is man a special creation of God, made in His image and endowed with the gifts of reason and a soul? Or are human beings just highly evolved animals dest

Today's Reading: Mark 8:1-9 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 10:1-27; Acts 22:17-29 [Jesus said], "I have compassion …" (Mark 8:2a) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Why does Jesus do the things He does? What moves Him? John wrote that Jesus was "full of grace" (John 1:14). Grace is God's unmerited favor, His unearned love for His creatures. He doesn't bless those who deserve it, but His blessings are given to those He loves, to those who need them. Mark records in our text that Jesus saw the crowds and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat." Compassion: This is why Jesus blesses. This is grace, His unmerited favor. This is love in action. He sees people in need and provides for them. At this time and place He miraculously provided food for their bodies. He provided more than enough, so that everyone ate and was satisfied and there was plenty leftover. At other times Jesus provided for people by healing diseases or restoring sight and hearing.

Today's Reading: Mark 10:35-45 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 9:1-27; Acts 21:37-22:16 Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. (Mark 10:43) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It's an astonishing statement, that in order to be great, you must be a servant. We don't understand. All of our lives are spent in constant pursuit of personal achievement. We're taught that we need to really try to be something. Goals are set and achieved. Awards are won. Recognitions and prizes are handed out. We think that we've become great if we have made a name for ourselves and climbed to the top of the pyramid. The disciples obviously thought that Jesus was destined for something big. They thought that He would be the one to restore peace to Israel by leading a political movement. They wanted in on the glory! They wanted their friend Jesus to remember them when He sits on the throne! Maybe a cabinet position would get thrown their way. They think like we do. Greatness and glory are things to be achieved by winning all

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 8:1-22; Acts 21:15-36 He even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. (Acts 21:28) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The early days of the Church were lived in the shadow of the temple. It wasn't immediately apparent that we shouldn't keep going there. The Jerusalem church went to the temple daily in the days after Pentecost. It was truly a house of prayer for all people. The rhythm of Sabbath Saturday and the Lord's Resurrection Day of Sunday was kept. Paul could find no reason why everyone shouldn't be going to the temple. The dividing wall of hostility had been broken down in Christ! (Ephesians 2:14) There was no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile, slave or free, male or female. All are one in Christ! It is an amazing thing that there aren't different Sacraments for different people. The water of Baptism is poured onto every head, whether rich or poor, man or woman. All are brought to Christ. The words of forgiveness spoken to sinners do not cha

Today's Reading: The Small Catechism: Baptism Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 6:19-7:17; Acts 19:1-22 Baptism is not just plain water… (The Small Catechism: Baptism, pt. 1) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Any church with a prominent baptismal font invites the question, "Is that holy water?" I've been asked this any number of times. There are two answers: yes and no. The water in the baptismal font that is used to unite sinners with Jesus comes from a tap in the back room at church. There is nothing holy or special about the plumbing. The faucet is not even gold plated. At my church, the bowl which holds the water in the font is obviously an old mixing bowl that came from someone's kitchen. Holy? Hardly. No, the water isn't blessed or holy. It is plain water. But it is not just plain water! It is water and Word together that make a Holy Baptism! What makes it holy? The holy Word of God makes this water holy, for the sinners who are brought to this water are made holy here. There is nothing special about this water

Today's Reading: John 20:1-2, 10-18 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 5:1-6:3, 10-16; Acts 18:1-11, 23-28 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Happy Easter! This really doesn't say everything we need to say, does it? Easter conjures up images of rabbits delivering eggs to children who then have to search and retrieve them. While these can certainly be Christian images, they don't quite capture the joy that Mary has. Happy Easter? How about this: "I have seen the Lord!" Try it out! Say it out loud! No one believed her, and who could blame them? Men don't rise from the dead, especially not after dying like Jesus died. Crucifixion leaves no doubt about a man's fate. There's no recovery after being nailed to a cross and left to die. She'd been there when Jesus was taken down and carefully laid in His borrowed tomb. There's a reason He didn't buy one for Himself though: He wasn't going to use it for very long. Imagine the tomb salesman