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(Reposted from November 27, 2020)

The irony of Black Friday…

Just as you are finishing a day of thanksgiving and reflecting on all the blessings God has given in the past year, focus shifts to the pile of advertisements or emails that call your name to…go buy more stuff!

You would think that after a day of thanksgiving would come a day of contentment…at least an hour or two.

Truth be told, I have gotten up early, stood in line, and been one of the first in a door to get a special on Friday morning.  However, it does lead me to pause and ask, “Is the purpose of Thanksgiving to end one year of accumulating stuff with gratitude, only to start another year of accumulating stuff?

Of course it isn’t, but it’s easy to go there.

The purpose of giving thanks isn’t to GET more; the purpose of giving thanks is to GIVE more.

The Apostle Paul inspired by God’s Spirit, puts this into perspective.

2 Corinthians 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Remember who gave you all you have in the first place…God is the one who “supplies seed to the sower and bread for food.”  As the “Common Doxology” says, “Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.”  Giving thanks realizes all I have is a gift of God.

Then what happens?

God continues to give…for a purpose.

1. To “enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” The goodness of God leads me to do the good God encourages.  The generosity of God, not only in material things, but in the spiritual (especially what God has given to me in the grace of Jesus) is the motivation to produce fruits of faith.
2. To enable us to be generous on every occasion. God is a giver.  He wants his people to be givers as well.  Jesus condemned the rich farmer who just wanted to take his bumper crops and build bigger barns and store everything up for himself. His life was taken from him.  Jesus concluded that parable with the words, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).
3. To lead others to give thanks to God as well. Just as we have been God’s message to share with others, we have been given a portion of God’s possessions to share with others.  When we love others by sharing the blessings we have received, others give thanks…not to us…but to God.

Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 9 of what happens when we give thanks…and give more:

2 Corinthians 9:12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

So this “Black Friday” remember the greatest gift you received on “Good Friday”.  May this “indescribable gift” lead you to give thanks…AND give thankfully!

Apply: Perhaps in your shopping this weekend think of someone who has a need which you can bless with a generous gift, simply to show them the love of Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving so generously to me all things physical and spiritual.  Enlarge my heart of gratefulness so I can be generous on every occasion. AMEN.

(Reposted from November 26, 2020)

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

The history of this day travels back to the 1600s and the celebration of the Pilgrims after a harsh trip to the new world and a challenging winter that claimed the lives of many of the original group.  Finally after a harvest was brought in, they paused to give thanks for the providence of God and the blessings he had provided.

Fast forward over 100 years to October 3, 1789 and a national day of Thanksgiving was declared by our first president, George Washington.  Here’s what he wrote:

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

 

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

 

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

 

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

 

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.  Go: Washington

As an American, I am grateful our country still believes it’s important to have a day of Thanksgiving.  I pray it is not simply a “thanks for not having to go to work today,” but a genuine day of thanks as our first president encouraged.  I also pray that we as a nation seek pardon for our transgressions.  Give thanks for ALL the blessings God has given and pray for the favor of the Lord to remain on our land.

As a Christian, I also pause to reflect on all the reasons God has given me to give thanks, not just today, but each and every day.  Perhaps a few verses from Colossians 3:15-17 help:

^{Colossians 3:15-17 15} Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

For what do we have to give thanks?  And what enables us to live today and every day “giving thanks to God the Father”?  Here are three reasons:

1. We have been given the Peace of Christ to rule in our hearts…no matter the external circumstances.
2. We have been given the Word of Christ to dwell in our souls…to speak wisdom and guidance to faith and life.
3. We have been given the Name of Christ to identify us as a child of God and give us a reason to do everything with gratitude and thanksgiving.

Enjoy your day…given thanks today and always!

Prayer: O give thanks to the LORD for he his good, his mercy endures forever. AMEN!

Today’s devotion is based off of week 4 of Unlikely Heroes: A Translator (WATCH HERE)

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After eight weeks of traveling in Europe, we landed in Detroit, Michigan from the long flight over the Atlantic.  As I walked off the plane and into the airport gate, I noticed something I had not noticed before.  I could read the signs.  I could understand the people.  Everything was in English, the language I know and understand!

On a daily basis, we take this for granted.  However for the majority of eight weeks in Europe we tried to piece together a little Greek in Athens, or Italian in Rome, or German in Berlin, or Norwegian in Norway, or French in Paris.  We had a book of common phrases to get us to the train, the bathroom, or grocery store.  But carrying on a meaningful conversation with someone was difficult at best and impossible at worst.

How much would we have gained if we could speak in all of those languages and be able to understand all those languages!

Being able to operate in a country and culture that matches your language is a blessing which seems like normal to us.  But when we step out of that context into a foreign country and language we get to appreciate what it means to not have the ability to understand.

At Pentecost, the people who came to Jerusalem must have felt like us traveling in Europe.  They maybe could find their place to stay, or something to eat, or where the bathroom was, but they were visitors in a place that didn’t speak their language.

Until they heard the disciples.

Acts 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

The excitement wasn’t just to understand where the baggage claim was and what was being served on the menu, the excitement was to hear the disciples proclaim the amazing truths of God in their native language!  We don’t know what all the disciples proclaimed, but if it was close to what Peter said, the key thing they learned that day was that God’s Spirit was being sent to convict their heart of sin and turn them to the answer to sin, their Savior Jesus Christ.  

They didn’t have to guess.  They didn’t miss anything.  They had it in their own language!

This is what the Lutheran Bible Translators are doing…bringing the wonders of God to people in their own language.  Dr. Pfluger related a number of instances of the joy that people had when they heard the Word of God for the first time in their language.  Finally it was not only understood, but they were able to hear about Jesus for the first time in their native language.  Give thanks for the Word of God in your language…consider supporting this mission work to bring the wonders of God to people who do not yet have a Bible in their language!

 

Apply: Take time to listen to this week’s message (Link is at the beginning of the devotion.)  Go to https://lbt.org/missionary/dr-chris-and-janine-pluger/ to read more about the Pfulgers and give a gift as the Lord moves you to do so.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of having your word in a language I can understand.  AMEN

Today’s devotion is based off of week 4 of Unlikely Heroes: A Translator (WATCH HERE)

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Why do we need Bible translations?

Perhaps the easy answer to this question is this: people speak different languages.

True.

But if I said that languages were evidence of the self-centered nature of mankind and the judgment of God on the disobedience of humanity, would you believe me?

Up until the time of the world-wide flood (Genesis 6-9), the world had one language.  The language that Noah and his family spoke on the ark then became the language of the world when they came off of the ark.  

The nations of the world had been destroyed by the flood and the people that survived and their descendents had one direction from God: Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1)

But that’s where things go bad.

People realized that sticking together was better and together they could accomplish anything they wanted.  The name of the Lord would become secondary to the name of the people.

So they decided to build a tower to be a marker of their honor rather than honoring the Lord and spreading over the earth.

Here’s what happened:

11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

From that scattering came 7500 different languages spoken on this earth today.

But…

… in some ways the different languages are a blessing to provide a checkpoint to curtail the selfish hearts of mankind from seeking their own selfish ways more than they already do.

The inability to understand each other was the cause of the people groups forming around the world, however God still wanted people of all languages to understand him and his Word so they might hear of Jesus and be saved.

The fact that God’s Word is in any language is a gift of his grace.  He had every right to make a judgment that not only would prevent people from understanding each other, but also prevent them from hearing his Word.

But he didn’t.

He has given us his Word in English and many other languages so we might hear and believe.  But the gift we have, others do not yet.  And that’s why the heart of a translator is such an important mission today.  

 

Apply: Take time to listen to this week’s message.  Go to https://lbt.org/missionary/dr-chris-and-janine-pluger/ to read more about the Pfulgers and give a gift as the Lord moves you to do so.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we use language to accomplish our own self-centered purposes.  Lead us to use the gift of language to clearly communicate your heart of grace and your message of salvation for the world.  AMEN

Today’s devotion is based off of week 4 of Unlikely Heroes: A Translator (WATCH HERE)

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The fact that you are reading this devotion means one thing: You understand the English language.

This may be a simple statement and reality, but if you didn’t understand English, you either would be really challenged to read this or just give up and wish you had something to read in your native language.

To miss a daily devotion or a conversation with a stranger because of a language barrier isn’t that big of a deal.  However, to miss out on the single most important message the world has ever known is a big deal.

But we may have never considered what it takes to overcome the language barrier to bring the message of Jesus to people groups that don’t have any portion of the Bible in their own native language.

With over 7000 languages in the world and only 750 of those languages having a Bible in their language, there is much to do to bring the message of Jesus to the world.

Yesterday at Crosspoint, we had Dr. Chris Pluger and his wife Janine share the work they are doing in Ethiopia to bring the Bible to 20 new languages in that country.  While mission work is not foreign to us, this type of mission work is not one you usually think of.

At Pentecost, here’s the miracle that God’s Spirit worked:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

What takes translators today years to accomplish, God accomplished in the miracle of translation given to the disciples.  Without any training in foreign languages, the disciples were able to communicate the wonders of God in the native tongue of those that were there.

While it takes much longer, the hand of God is still at work in people like the Plugers and those with whom they work to bring the wonderful Word of God into the native tongue of the people who don’t yet have access to the Bible in the language they speak.

Why do the Plugers and others part of Lutheran Bible Translators do this?  Why might I encourage you to consider supporting their work with a monthly financial gift of $25/month?

Because, like at Pentecost, the truth is this: (Acts 2:21) And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ So many more might be saved, the work of translators brings the name of the Lord and the Word of the Lord to souls that need him.

 

Apply: Take time to listen to this week’s message.  Go to https://lbt.org/missionary/dr-chris-and-janine-pluger/ to read more about the Plugers and give a gift as the Lord moves you to do so.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for people like Dr. Chris and Janine Pluger who are using their God-given gifts to bring your Word to people in their native tongue.  Grant them safety and blessing as they do the great work of translating your Word! AMEN.