Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Monday, February 20, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Proverbs 3:11-20

This text talks about two things that we see a lot of in Proverbs, discipline and wisdom. Notice it says that God will discipline His children and then a verse later talks about how important wisdom is. It is wisdom that tells us punishment is not for punishment's sake, but if we are punished, it is for our own good, for God is longing to make us into something greater. And while it is a different understanding of the word discipline, it is discipline that makes us more into what God would have us to be. It is discipline that causes us to pray when we do not feel like it, it is discipline that causes us to be within the body of Christ on days when we'd rather stay in, it is discipline that causes us to read the Word when are pressed for time. For us to fully be who God calls us to be, we need not only God to discipline us, rather we need to discipline ourselves. And in that, we find through His Grace, wisdom.

New Testament Lesson

1 John 3:18-4:6

This is a passage I'm not sure I've read since college, but it was one of my favorites. God's grace is greater than our hearts. Sometimes, God can forgive us, but we cannot forgive ourselves. I've had folks come to me in my ministry, convinced they had committed the unforgivable sin. I always ask, do you feel sorry for doing it and want forgiveness, and they always rely, yes. Then, you haven't committed the unforgivable sin. The reason why is unforgivable is because by that point you are so far from God, you cannot and would not ask forgiveness; you wouldn't even care. So often, we cannot forgive ourselves. We hold onto our failures, to our defeats. Friends, we live by grace. We cannot save ourselves, only God's grace can do that. We don't have to be perfect. We will makes mistakes. Now God is at work on us, and we must not be satisfied and content living in sin, We are as Wesley said, going on to perfection, but we are not there yet. We live by grace. If God can forgive us, why can't we forgive ourselves. His grace is greater than our hearts.

Gospel Lesson

John 11:17-29

Martha didn't see Jesus full plan, because she could not. None of us can. No human can; only God. She didn't know what was to come. She didn't know that Jesus would raise her brother from the dead. She didn't know what Jesus had in mind. Neither do we. Many times, we do not know what God is work on in our lives; we do not know His full plan. We only see in part, and sometimes, we don't even see that. We have to trust that He knows what He is doing. Martha did not know what great thing Jesus had in store for her family; we do not know what great thing God has in store for us. We must simply trust. Whatever you are going through right now, God is at work in it, to bring something good out of it. You may not know what; but God does. Trust in Him; He is at work.