Holding Onto The Source of Our Faith
Sunday’s Verse:
From Luke 18:8 ESV
(Jesus said) “I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus concludes the parable of the persistent widow not with a question of justice, but of faith.
It’s easy to get to the end of the parable and stop at the widow’s persistence. God will provide justice. God will act. He is no hard-of-hearing judge. But Jesus drives the point home to our stubborn hearts with this pointed question: when He comes, will He find faith?
Not noise.
Not busyness.
Not routine.
Faith.
As Lutherans, we confess that faith is not something we have done for ourselves. It is not our doing at all—it is God’s gift, created and sustained by His Word. But we also confess that faith exists in the here and now—a real, hard, struggling world.Every day our faith is battered and bruised by doubt and delay and discouragement. Like the widow, we pray and wait. Sometimes we see the fruit of justice. Sometimes we don’t.
But we know the call to trust all the more.
Not because we feel strong, but because He is faithful.
We don’t have to produce perfect faith. Christ calls us to hold on to Him, author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). When our hands grow weak, His never do.
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus, we know that You see our hearts, and know well how easily we tire. Please do not give us faith to boast in ourselves, but to grow and trust by Your Word and promises. When we pray, help us not to lose heart. When we wait, help us not to wander. And when You come again in glory, let us have found faith in You, who first loved us. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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