Tag Archives: Love

The Love of G*d, the Love of Christ who commands us to love one another

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 17, 2015
Tags: , Love,   

A Talking Donkey? — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 17, 2015

“God’s anger was kindled because he (Balaam) was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!” But the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?” And he said, “No.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down… Numbers 22:22-31

“Do we see the danger? Or do we not notice how increasingly our own will, our own passion, our own stubbornness sneaks into our confession? Do we not notice how our pious self-confidence puts itself in the place of faith? How our human goals shove aside Christian hope?” Martin Niemoller (1892 – 1984)”For All The Saints”, volume IV (p. 239)

We do not always see the danger of allowing our own will, desires, and plans to supersede the will, desires and plans that G*d has for us. Balaam was blind to the presence of G*d, and thus his own will took over. It took the unexpected surprise of the donkey talking to open his eyes to seeing the Angel of the Lord. This reminds us that G*d will come to us in expected ways, and often in unexpected and even extraordinary ways — all in an attempt to get our attention. But in this distracted world in which we live, it may take something extraordinary to get us to look up — look up from our phones, our tablets, our computers, and look up to G*d.

Be open today to how G*d might be interceding in your life. I doubt you will encounter a talking donkey — but don’t put anything outside of the realm and the desire of G*d to get your attention.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 9, 2015
Tags: Love,   

Something New — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 9, 2015

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God” 2 Corinthians 5:16-18a

“Many of you enjoy watching the PBS program, The Antiques Road Show. For me, the best part of the show is not the antiques; it’s the people. You know how the program works: people bring in their family bric-a-brac and some national expert will study that bric-a-brac, ask the person a few questions about the bric-a-brac, and then share what the bric-a-brac is worth. I like to watch the faces of the folks when the expert says, “This bric-a-brac is not some garbage your crazy Uncle Charlie picked up shortly before he died. No, there are only two of these bric-a-bracs in the entire world, and yours is worth a gazillion, billion dollars.” At that moment the bric-a-brac is transformed and has become valuable. No, that’s not right. The bric-a-brac was no different. It had always been valuable. The people were the ones who were changed.” “A New Value” Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

There are a few experiences in our lives that really change us. You can see the change in children when they come home from college. You can see the change in classmates when you return home for class reunions. And you can see the change in someone when the Holy Spirit really takes hold of them — and really changes them. As Lutherans, we do not always like to see a whole lot of change — either in our worship experience — and especially in the religious behavior of a person. If someone all of a sudden finds “Jesus”, many in the Lutheran church may look upon them with a suspicious eye. Yet, this is what Jesus wants — Jesus wants us all to become a “new” creation — and that often requires wholesale change. But the change comes either in how we see ourselves, or we see the “others” who have experienced a change.

We have always been valuable, no matter what others may have thought about us. We have always been valuable because G*d sees us as “valuable”. Remember, G*d sees you as a valuable, loved, child of G*d right now — no matter what the world might be telling you. And knowing that G*d thinks you are valuable should change you — change how you see yourself — and change how you see G*d working in your life and in the lives of others.

Pastor Dave