Tag Archives: god

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 11:16 am on January 9, 2025
Tags: christianity, , god, habits,   

January 9, 2025 – January is….Defeating Old Habits

January 9, 2025 – January is….Defeating Old Habits

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering … Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it … God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Romans 12:1-2 says, The Message, a paraphrase by Eugene Peterson)

Remember I wrote about translations of the bible, and in that devotion I mentioned “The Message” as one of the paraphrase renditions of the Bible that I like. The above reading is a good example, because it puts into understandable words, what Paul was trying to get across to us: take what is most comfortable, most ordinary, all of your habits, new and old, and place them before G-d – and then be ready for some change.

Why do we abandon new habits so quickly? Because our old habits are so comfortable. Old habits feel as good to you as your favorite chair. We are so easily drawn to that which is most comfortable. Did you get socks for Christmas this year? New socks are nice, but there is something that is so comforting about the old pairs. They fit “just right”. And that gives some sense of comfort. The old is comfortable. But the old can also get smelly and full of holes. You have to want something better — something new – if you are to follow a new path or try something new.

Don’t be afraid of the new this year – think of “new ways” as opportunities to defeat the “old habits”. Yes, the new is usually not as comfortable as the old. But when you find that the new makes you uncomfortable, take it and place it before G-d, who will take it and bring the best out of you.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 11:33 am on November 29, 2024
Tags: , exodus, , god, moses   

November 29, 2024 – Saint of the Day – Saint Saturninus, Martyr

November 29, 2024 – Saint of the Day – Saint Saturninus, Martyr

Companion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity—who are the patron saints of mothers; expectant mothers; butchers; and ranchers. He is the first bishop of Toulouse, France.

“Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?” God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Yes? I’m right here!” God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God. God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:1-11

“The Second theme of the Exodus: God chose a leader. Moses was called, along with his brother Aaron and sister Miriam, to tell the people that God was now at last coming to their rescue. Moses then, at God’s behest, led the people out of slavery into freedom.” (“Re-Living the Exodus”,  Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 64)

Leaders are so important in our lives: especially the leaders of world, the country, and our communities. Moses was an unlikely leader chosen by G-d. In fact, Moses tried valiantly to convince G-d that he was the wrong person. He did not believe that G-d had the right person to lead the people out of Egypt, coming up with at least five reasons why he was not “the guy”. We still believe that G-d is in the processes we use to elect and choose our leaders today. In the church, when we are electing a Bishop, or other leaders in the Synod, we pray before each election—invoking the Holy Spirit to lead us in our decision-making process. When we go forward to elect our governmental leaders, we should invoke the same Holy Spirit in our decision-making process. Look at what the writer of Timothy says:

“The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.” (1 Timothy 2:1-3)

If you do not believe that prayer is effective and powerful, then it won’t be. But if you pray knowing that your prayers are heard, then those prayers will have more power than you can imagine.

Pastor Dave