It was always my custom to stand at the front door of the church and...
Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries
By Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
"Not Logical"
November 16, 2017
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
It was always my custom to stand at the front door of the church and welcome folks to worship.
As you can imagine, such a vantage point allowed me to see many strange and interesting things. For me, none was more interesting than watching women cleaning up their children, especially their boys who have the ability to make the cleanest of outfits instantaneously dirty.
That's why moms who knew their children were spic-and-span at the beginning of the trip to church still went through the checklist one last time. One last time they wanted to make sure their little ones were presentable.
I can still see those mothers going through their mental checklist:
- Hands clean and devoid of all blotches and smears? Check!
- Hair in place, no bubble-gum or peanut butter? Check!
- No lint or loose hairs on shoulders or shirt? Check!
- Is the tuck-in Sunday shirt still tucked in? Check!
- Any major stains? None. Check!
Now if there was some dirt or a heretofore unnoticed stain, mom took care of such horrors right there and then. This she did by fishing a handkerchief out of her purse and spitting into it. A big stain called for a lot of spittle. To the best of my knowledge, no stain can withstand this method of cleaning. Oh, there's one other thing you should know about mom's cleaning their men.
The thing you should know is this: there is no age cutoff. I have seen 76-year-old great-grandmothers clean up their 78-year-old husbands as well as their 45-year-old sons. This they do because there are special occasions when the ladies like their guys to look good.
And no occasion is more special than a wedding: your wedding.
A few weeks ago, Brittany Ross Cook of Ontario, Canada, married Clayton Cook. Everything went great at the wedding, but afterwards, as they were taking pictures in Victoria Park, they ran into problems. In the midst of the formal pictures, the groom excused himself, walked over to the river, watched for a few seconds and, still attired in his formal clothes, jumped in.
It could have been the end of a beautiful relationship. But it wasn't. Brittany forgave Clay after he explained. You see, Clay had seen one child push another into that river. When he walked to the riverbank he was told the lad couldn't swim. A quick glance at the boys struggles showed, without help, the boy wasn't going to make it.
Jumping in to save that child may not have been the logical thing to do. It may not have been the logical thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.
Two-thousand years ago, your Savior took a look at sinful humanity. He could plainly see we couldn't save ourselves. Indeed, if anybody was going to be rescued in this world it would be because He got involved, which is why Jesus began His earthly ministry. He put His own life, His own place in heaven to the side, to save us. To save us, He became obedient unto death, even death on the cross.
Understand, it was not the logical thing to do. How could the innocent dying for the guilty be logical? How could trading the life of God's Son to rescue a rebellious world be logical? No, it wasn't logical, but it was -- from the Lord's perspective -- the right thing, the godly thing to do.
As Paul wrote, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, today we rejoice that You didn't do the logical thing in saving us. May we do our best to live worthy of the Name Christian. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
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