Living Free From Spiritual Confusion

"Today's Devotion" For March 5, 2005

Read: Matthew 16:21-23
Psalm 40

LIVING FREE FROM SPIRITUAL CONFUSION

"I desire to do Your Will, O my God; Your law is within my heart."(Ps.40:8)

Being confused from time to time is a very human trait. Of course, when you have teenagers in the house, "Confused" can be anyone's "middle name." Personally, according to my children, I've been carrying that middle name around for about 10 years, with seven more years to follow. On the other hand, I can honestly tell you that we don't need to be the parents of teenagers to be confused. Everyday is an exercise in confusion as we face a world that presents us with decisions for living that often look good, but fully contradict the decisions that God places before us. The pull between the secular and the sacred is intense and often highly confusing. Sometimes things just seem to be the right things to do or say, but when they're weighed against God's Word, they come out short. It doesn't help any that among God's people there's an awful lot of confusion about what God really expects and how we should live.

There's often a huge gap between thinking a man's thoughts and thinking God's thoughts. It's a confusion that has plagued humanity since the Fall into Sin in the Garden of Eden. How often doesn't some action or thought or word seem perfectly wonderful, and then we later find out that God's Will is just the opposite? Back in the 1960's, during the days of "Power to the People," "Free Love," and "Flower Children," there was a popular phrase, "If it feels good, do it!" that ran through our culture. Many Christians fell prey to the temptation of being free from any "restrictions" on their lives (sounds a lot like the temptation in Eden, doesn't it?), and often fell into the trap of seeing that cultural phenomenon as the epitome of "love your neighbor as yourself." The 60's may be far behind us, but the same confusion about God's Will and Word hasn't gone away. However, lest we fall into despair, it's also important for us to be aware that the same confusion about God's Will and Word stretches all the way back to Peter and the rest of Jesus' disciples--and they were living and working with Him everyday! Imagine Peter's confusion when Jesus told the disciples about His suffering, death and resurrection. What Jesus was telling them flew in the face of every popular notion about the Christ and what kind of Savior of the people He was to be.

When our Lord walked the earth, the popular notion concerning the Messiah was that He was to be an earthly ruler, who would restore David's throne and overthrow Israel's oppressors to free her from foreign rule. Jesus' own description of Himself and His purpose flew in the face of that particular interpretation of God's promises. We can see how this confused Peter because earlier he had made that marvelous confession of faith when Jesus asked him who he believed Jesus was, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt. 16:16). For a moment, Peter "got it". He wasn't confused by the "facts." Yet, as often happens to us as well, in the next moment he lost "it" and became an ally of Satan by contradicting Jesus' proclamation that He had to die for the sins of the world.

As we continue through this Season of Lent, we're faced with the same confusion that Peter and the disciples faced. We see the good things Jesus does in His ministry, healing the sick, diseased, and maimed, driving out demons, and even raising the dead. At the same time we see Him moving inexorably closer and closer to the Cross. According to our human nature, this just doesn't make sense. Yet, by the grace and mercy of God, it was necessary in order to complete God's good and perfect Will. No human being could ever obey His Law perfectly, or be holy as He is holy. Yet, by the miraculous power of God's Spirit, the very Son of God became human flesh, lived among us, subjected Himself to God's Law in our place, and took our sins, our disobedience, upon Himself. He bore the consequences for Sin that we deserve to bear. In His suffering and death we are declared righteous before our Father in heaven. His resurrection seals the Father's promise of forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe in Christ. While confusing, the Suffering Christ is both inevitable and necessary. We rejoice in His great gift and seek the Spirit's help in avoiding the spiritual confusion that can lead us away from our inheritance in heaven and our witness for the Kingdom.

Prayer: Father, there's no doubt that my life is often spiritually confused. I'm often led astray by the ways of the world and the whole attitude that "you can't get something for nothing," which completely contradicts Your free gift of salvation in Jesus. To often, the old phrase, "If it feels good do it!", is still a part of my life and leads me on a path away from You. Forgive me, Father, for Jesus' sake and restore me daily in the power of my Baptism, so that I might live in Your forgiveness and have clear mind and heart that avoid the confusion that Sin and the world bring to me and all Your people. Help me to live so firmly grounded in Your Word and Will that I might be a light of reason and stability in a confused and stumbling world. Lead me to be a faithful witness of Your love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness in Christ to everyone I meet, so that those who don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior might be introduced to Him by me. In Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen.
********************************

--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.