Jesus Clears Up Our Spiritual Confusion

"Today's Devotion" For October 5, 2006

Read: Matthew 16:21-23; Psalm 40

JESUS CLEARS UP OUR SPIRITUAL CONFUSION

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

There's a certain confusion that often arises for Christians when it comes to how we deal with the world as redeemed and forgiven children of God in Jesus Christ. On the one hand, as Peter so eloquently did earlier in Matthew 16, we stand firm and tall in our confession that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), and seek ways to bring healing to broken hearts, feed the poor, house the homeless, and seek peace on the earth. And, not unlike Peter, when God's Will doesn't quite fit our view of how things should be and our personal feelings get in the way of faithful and obedient living, we rise up in opposition to God's purposes and seek our own. Thus, while me might confess Jesus as our Savior and Lord, in the next breath we take His name in vain, are impatient and unloving toward our neighbors, and try to find ways to get even with those who hate us because we believe in Jesus.

Peter's powerful confession of faith, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16) is one which all of God's people seek to live by themselves. Yet, just like Peter, when God's plan doesn't match our conception of things, such as Jesus telling the disciples that He had to go the way of the Cross and suffer and die for the sins of the world, we stand in the way and seek to turn God's purpose into one more in keeping with our human, sinful sensibilities. Such confusion is frequent in our lives as we move between the secular and the sacred, between thinking a man's thoughts and thinking God's thoughts.

We can better understand Peter's dilemma if we understand that the common belief concerning the Christ's work and mission was that He was to literally restore David's throne and be a ruler of unparalleled power on the earth. Jesus' words of suffering and death, crucifixion and resurrection, flew in the face of that long held belief and popular conception. While on the one hand Peter could confess Jesus as the Savior of the world (the Christ, the Son of the living God), in the next breath, as Jesus' words shattered his long held picture of the Christ, Peter could become an instrument of Satan seeking to prevent salvation from going according to God's plan - a plan of eternal, spiritual dimensions, not one focused on earthly power.

And so it is among us today as well. In the Christian world there are still those who would seek to have Jesus be an earthly ruler. They are people who cling to the things of this world and want to have some of the "gravy" they feel they've so often been denied because they're Christians. These same people feel that, with Jesus on the "throne of power" and ruling the world, they might get even with those who have indicated hatred for Christians and have abused them. So intense is this desire to "get even," that God's Will is warped by their desire for revenge.

Recently, among Pennsylvania's Amish citizens, a local man attacked a school, took a number of Amish girls, six to thirteen years of age hostage, with the apparent intention of sexually abusing them. In the end, they were spared the sexual abuse but were murdered by him before he took his own life. The response of the news media to the response of the Amish was one of wonder and surprise, because, true to their beliefs, the Amish have sought to forgive, embrace the man's family, and seek God's help in healing their hearts and their community. In sharp contrast to the ways of the world, and the contradictory tone of those who would place Jesus on an earthly throne, these brothers and sisters in Christ seek to be Christlike in forgiving and await their reunion in heaven with their departed loved ones.

God's plan of salvation in Jesus' Christ is purely a spiritual event. His salvation lives in us while we still walk this earth, filling us with His forgiveness so that we might also be forgiving. The righteousness of Christ, put upon us in Holy Baptism, strengthens us to live for Jesus and share His love, grace, and mercy with the world around us. By the power of God's Word and Spirit working in us through Holy Baptism, we are able to say and act according to the words of the Psalmist, "I desire to do Your Will, O my God; Your law is within my heart " (Psalm 40:8). In Jesus our spiritual confusion is met and overcome. We are empowered to live for Him, filled with His love and forgiveness to share with the world. Our lives become that very confession of faith that Peter declared so long ago - and God's Spirit, in Holy Baptism, sets us free from the Sin which would deny that confession.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You went to the Cross, suffering, dying and rising again from the dead so that I might have life eternal in You. You have forgiven me of all my sins. Yet, so often I lose sight of who You have made me to be, and I get caught up in the things of this world. It's a spiritual contradiction I don't wish to have, but it's there. By the power of Your Word and Spirit, I pray that You would strengthen me in my faith and trust in You so that I may avoid such spiritual confusion and remain a faithful, consistent witness of Your love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness to a lost and fallen world. Help me to overcome evil with good, as You fill me with hope and peace. Remind me every day, by the power of Your Word and Spirit, that as a redeemed and Baptized child of God I can overcome the world and be an effect witness for You to others. Lord Jesus, clear up the spiritual confusion in my life so that I may be a beacon of confident faith to others. In Your precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright @2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.