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[Jesus said] “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
Luke 21:6

Stones

Jesus and his disciples are walking near the temple complex in Jerusalem. The buildings on the Temple Mount are breathtaking in their beauty. One contemporary account says of the temple that “whatever was not overlaid with gold was purest white.” The disciples are in awe, and understandably so. But as they express their admiration for such gorgeous handiwork, Jesus makes a prophecy. He tells them that all they see on the Temple Mount will one day go over the side. In Jesus’ words, “Not one stone will be left on another.”

Fast forward to 1970. An archaeologist by the name of Benjamin Mazar excavates below the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount and makes a remarkable discovery. About his discovery, he writes the following: “The great pile of stones, lying just as they had fallen from the western enclosure of the Temple Mount, bore unmistakable marks of the Roman destruction. . . They have remained in that position ever since A.D. 70.”

You can stand in front of those very same stones today. In your mind’s eye, take a moment to do just that. Stand in front of those stones. These are the beautifully ornamented stones Jesus’ disciples walked past and admired. These are the stones Jesus said would one day be thrown down. And these are the stones the Roman soldiers destroyed and hurled over the side, a mere four decades after Jesus said they would, all in exact fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy.

The stones are a reminder. They remind us that every word of the Lord is true. Every word. They remind us that he is in control, even when all seems to be chaos and confusion. They remind us that his promise of full forgiveness through faith in him is a promise that never fails. They remind us that, just as he’s foretold, this sinful world will come to an end; that eternal life with him awaits.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you are in control. Your every word is true. Move me to trust you always. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.”
Malachi 4:2

Healing

How many wounds do you carry? As you read or listen to this devotion, perhaps you can feel the physical ache of an old injury. Perhaps there’s a serious accident in your past that your body has never fully recovered from. Perhaps the discomfort from an old physical hurt continues to vex you.

And then there are the other wounds, the wounds not of the body. “Some old wounds never truly heal and bleed again at the slightest word,” says the author J.R.R. Martin. “The wounds that never heal can only be mourned alone,” says writer James Frey. And Rose Kennedy once said, “In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers [certain wounds] with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”

Let’s acknowledge this reality. You and I live in a broken world; a world broken by sin—yours and mine. Because we do, the likelihood for serious wounds is overwhelming—wounds we receive from others, wounds we inflict on others, wounds we inflict on ourselves. Some of those wounds may heal slowly. Other of these wounds may heal at a pace that seems glacial. Still others may grow scar tissue that remains tender, ready to “bleed again at the slightest word.”

Jesus knows this. On our behalf, he entered this broken world. He became one of us. He knows all about such wounds. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, it was Jesus who was “wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.” For this reason, the Son of God understands how such wounds feel.

But because Christ Jesus bore our sins in our place, he does far more than sympathize with the pain of our wounds. He brings healing. Whole, entire, absolute, complete healing. He brings that healing balm to us now through the gospel in Word and sacrament. And one day you and I will experience that healing from old wounds in full, when there will be “no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain.”

On that day, you and I will bask in the healing warmth of the sun of righteousness. The old will be gone. The new will have come.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you have secured my complete healing from my old wounds. Thank you. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
James 1:17-18

Equipped to Keep on Sharing

In today’s Bible reading, the apostle James says something remarkable. He says that God does not change. He is not like a shifting shadow—like the shadow of a windowpane moving slowly across the living room floor until it disappears as the sun goes down. In particular, with respect to giving his people good gifts, God does not change. He is like the sun when viewed from outer space. He keeps shining. He never sets. His generosity does not change. He still selects carefully just the right gifts and just the right number of gifts to give his people.

God’s greatest gift to us is the gift of spiritual life—a gift that the apostle James says God gave us through the word of truth. Through the words of the Bible, God points us to Jesus and convinces us that he is the Son of God, who became a human being to save us from our sin. He leads us to believe that someday we will live with him in heaven. When we reflect on God’s gracious gifts to us, especially the gift of spiritual life through Jesus, we are motivated to show generosity, consideration, kindness, forgiveness, patience, and caring for other people.

May it give you the motivation and strength to be as generous to others as he has been to you. God, who does not change, will answer your prayer.

Prayer:

Thank you, Lord, that you do not change. I know I can count on your blessings in the future just as in the past. Grant that your generosity to me makes me generous to those you bring into my life this day. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 19:10

Are You Lost?

Is it possible to get lost anymore? With GPS, Find My, and AirTag, it seems like no one should ever get lost. Some of us remember the days when all we had was a map to guide us. Getting lost was perhaps more common in those days. But dads especially refused to admit they were lost. We can perhaps still remember Dad saying, ‘I’m not lost, I know exactly where I am!’

That kind of thinking is common also in our spiritual lives. Few, if any of us, would admit that we are lost. We think we know exactly where we are in life, and we have it all figured out. Maybe we have taken a few bad turns in life, but we are generally going in the right direction. Perhaps a few bad choices detoured us a bit, but we’re in control and we know where we are going. Yet so many of us are wandering through life without a spiritual GPS. If heaven is the destination, we don’t have any sort of guide or direction.

The good news is that Jesus came to save the lost and to guide us home. But if we can’t admit that we are lost, then Jesus has nothing for us. If we believe we are all good on our own and don’t need to be saved, Jesus leaves us to find our own way home to heaven. Without him as our Savior, we can’t possibly find the way.

As hard as it is to admit, we are lost on our own and need Jesus to bring us home. And thankfully, he does just that. He is the only way to heaven. His life and death in our place paved the road to eternal life. He rose from the dead to guarantee that through faith in him, we will find the way through this life into heaven with him. Jesus came and saved us and now provides us with eternal life. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and he will lead you home.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to seek and save me. Help me to know that even though I was lost, now I am saved and on the way to heaven. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
Luke 19:5

Feeling Small?

Zacchaeus was not a popular guy. Nobody liked him. He was a Jewish man who collected taxes for the hated Roman government. As such, he was viewed as a traitor to his people. Tax collectors were notorious for overcharging the people so they could pad their own bank accounts. They were despised. On top of this, Zacchaeus was a small man and did not stand out physically in any way. Put that all together, and he would be the last one that anyone would expect Jesus to pick out of a crowd.

What about you? Are you feeling small? Outcast? Unnoticed? Maybe there is that person in your life who just has a way of making you feel like the tiniest person in the room. Perhaps you work so hard, and nobody seems to notice or care. It could be that your recent choices in life have you feeling unworthy of Jesus’ notice. Maybe it was words you spoke in anger, or decisions you made in a moment of passion, or thoughts that linger in your mind. Whatever the case, perhaps you also feel like the last one anyone would expect Jesus to notice.

Surprising as it may be, Jesus wants to be with you, too. Just like he picked Zacchaeus out of that crowd and asked him to climb down out of that tree, Jesus calls out to you through his Word and tells you to follow him. He wants you to know that he loves you and wants nothing more than to spend eternity with you. He wants you to trust him in all things. To prove he is worthy of that trust, Jesus lived and died and rose again from the dead, all to assure you that you could have a place by his side in heaven forever. And now he invites you to spend time with him as you read your Bible. He knows that the more time you spend together, the more your faith will grow and the more you will find peace in this life.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for saving me from sin and death and for calling out to me in your Word. Help me to grow in faith as I spend time in your Word. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
Micah 7:18

Our God Is Different!

What is God like? You could potentially hear a different answer to that question for every person asked. One person may think that God is distant and aloof—barely taking notice of what is happening to us here on earth. Another may feel that God is mean or angry for threatening judgment on those who disobey. Still another may view God as unloving or cruel because he doesn’t appear to help us when we need it.

Truthfully, God could and should have been all those things and more. Because of our sinfulness, God had every right to be angry. Because we at times pay so little attention to him, he had every reason to be distant from us. Because we accuse him of being unloving, he had all the motive he needed to withhold his love from us.

All these descriptors of God would seem to make sense to human understanding. Surprisingly, though, the Bible tells us that what God is like is so completely different from what we expected or deserved. The Bible says, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” This verse tells us what God is like. He is forgiving and merciful. He does not stay angry with us but, in love, reaches out to save us. For proof of this love, you need look no further than the cross. Rather than make us pay for our sins or turn his back on us, God sent Jesus to be our Savior. To suffer and die on the cross to pay for all our sins and to give us the gift of eternal life in heaven. Rather than punish us, God invites us to believe in Jesus and to be saved.

Contrary to what many believe, God is defined by his pardoning and forgiving grace. God sent Jesus and proved everyone wrong. Our God is different!

Prayer:

Dear Father in heaven, thank you for doing the unexpected and sending Jesus to die for my sins. Lead me to trust in him today and every day. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain.”
Revelation 21:2-4

Heaven is My Home

“There is no place like home.” That is especially true when we ponder the promise of our heavenly home. No earthly home compares to that home.

Although our earthly homes may be places of happiness and peace, sadly, they can also be places of unrest due to sin within us and around us. Tears often flow because of troubled relationships. Suffering occurs from pain and sickness. Grief fills the heart when death makes its unwelcome presence.

Our heavenly home will be a place of unbroken peace. There, God promises that anxieties and hardships will no longer trouble us. In undiminished peace we will joyfully live as we witness firsthand how God wipes away all tears and has destroyed death forever.

Heaven is also where God’s presence is with his people. We find great comfort knowing God is with us even now as we dwell on earth. We live by faith knowing that God is present. Our faith will be turned to sight when God makes his permanent dwelling with all believers in heaven.

How can we be certain that we will live in that home of unbridled bliss? Such certainty is not found in us or our good works. Our certainty is centered in Christ Jesus, our Savior. He is the one who made his home among us on earth. He lived a perfect life and now credits his perfection to all believers.

As we look forward to heaven, our hearts are filled with joy to live as his blood-bought bride. Our lips also long to tell others of the eternal home God has prepared for them through Jesus.

Prayer:

O risen Savior, I thank you for the strength your eternal Word gives me as I live each day on earth. Dry my tears with the comfort of your unfailing love as I longingly await my eternal home with you. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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[Jesus said] “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”
Luke 6:22-23

Worth It

Think of all the things in your life that make you rejoice and leap for joy. A clean bill of health. The birth of a healthy child. A good grade on a project or paper that you spent a lot of time on. Making the team or the cast. Watching your team win the championship.

In today’s verse, Jesus adds to that list being insulted, excluded, rejected, and hated. But who would rejoice over things like that? And then, when Jesus says that we suffer like this “because of the Son of Man,” because of Jesus himself, that makes it sound even worse. It sounds like Jesus wants us to be insulted, hated, and excluded.

But that’s not what Jesus means. He means that we experience those things because our identity and trust are in him.

Our world doesn’t want a God like Jesus. A God who says our daily failures make it impossible to earn his love and a home in heaven. He expects too much of us!

On the other hand, our world also hates the idea of a God that gives us his love unconditionally without expecting anything from us, a God who rewards us with heaven because he himself met the expectations of his law for us. That’s nonsense, according to the world.

For revealing such impossible demands and showing such impossible love, Jesus himself was insulted, hated, excluded, rejected, and killed. And we can expect the same treatment because we trust in him. But Jesus promises, “great is your reward in heaven.” When we know and believe God’s forgiving love in Jesus, we are saints in God’s eyes and have a place in heaven with our name on it.

Now we can rejoice in our suffering as saints in this world. We can see it as a blessing that reminds us of God’s love and leads us to look forward to the great reward he has prepared for us.

Prayer:

Jesus, help me to rejoice when I suffer because of you, knowing that you have won a great reward for me in heaven. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.
Hebrews 11:33-35

The Hero of the Story

The Bible is full of amazing stories. Stories of the weak overcoming the strong. Stories of people escaping from impossible situations. Stories of battles won and enemies defeated – even death itself. Stories that amaze and excite and inspire.

Those true stories are our stories too. We can relate to the weak and the wounded, the grieving and the hurting, those just trying to navigate through life and make it out alive. And the God in the middle of those stories is in the middle of ours, too.

He made promises to those people long ago, and they held onto those promises. When flames, foes, or even death were overcome for them, it was because God promised they would be. That gave them the strength and stamina to endure.

They didn’t always come out on top in this world. Innocent people were tortured and killed. But they endured it because God promised something more. He promised a Savior, Jesus, who would be tortured and killed, too. He willingly endured it to gain more than this world could ever offer. When Jesus died and rose again, he gained for them and for us rescue from death itself. He won for us a place in the family of God as forgiven saints and heirs of eternal life. He secured for us a home in heaven where no enemy can ever touch us again.

Those people in the Bible are sometimes called heroes of faith, but the real hero was the God and Savior who keeps every promise and gives us the final victory. Read the Bible. See their stories and yours. Hear and believe God’s promises to you. And know that Jesus, your hero, guarantees that your story will have a great ending!

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for being the hero of my story. Help me to live in view of the better life you have won for me. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:1-5

New Heaven and New Earth

The apostle John was given a vision of the future, after this world comes to its end, and God gives his people a new world in which to live.

In this new world, John was told there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. What a wonderful existence it will be! Some theologians believe that the saints in heaven will have all the marks of sin removed, including the deterioration of old age. The aches and pains, amputations, and all other defects will be corrected and made perfect in Jesus.

We can’t be sure this will be the case. But, whatever we look like, we know that our physical bodies in heaven will be perfect and sinless. Imagine—living with God himself without the possibility of falling into sin. We will have free choice in the purest sense, a choice that can do nothing but please God and praise him. That will be rest indeed.

Prayer:

Be with me, Lord Jesus, until I join you in the perfection of heaven. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.