A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily prayers this week. The scripture is from our Sunday Service Bulletin. Today starts a multi-sermon series on Galatians that will run through the summer.
Epistle Reading- Galatians 1:1-5
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me, To the churches in Galatia: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Devotion: Rescue
On this 500th year anniversary of the start of the reformation it is appropriate to study the favorite New Testament book of Dr. Martin Luther, and that is Galatians. Scholars think that the author of this Epistle, Paul, was fighting the notion, spread by his enemies in Galatia that he received his apostolic commission from other men and not from God. Paul spends a good deal of time in the first two chapters dealing with criticisms like this. In the fourth verse in today’s text Paul refers to Jesus who gave himself for our sins to “rescue us from the present evil age”. Two things come to mind when I see this, first we’ve all seen rescues on TV and in the movies and maybe even experienced it in real life. A life-saving rescue from the “jaws of death” is a thrilling, uplifting sight or as a personal experience, life changing. Second, the “present evil age” was written about something that existed 2000 years ago but seems to persist today. Can you take a minute or two this week to reflect that, if you are a person of faith, you are dramatically and personally rescued from the evils of this world? This rescue was achieved by the deeds of a son of a carpenter in Nazareth, called Jesus, who turned out to be our Lord and Savior. Is that not a story to be shared?
We pray: “Lord we humbly thank you for our rescue. Amen”