Pious Lutheran

Sometimes Jesus says things that I’d rather He just not say, for example, today He said: “ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ” Jesus is right, as much as we might hate to say it. To be righteous in God’s sight requires perfect obedience to His law. If we have any hope of entering heaven, then we must keep His divine holy law. But I guess that doesn’t sound too bad, right? That sounds doable. We just read the ten comma...

Elijah was a great prophet of the Lord, speaking the Word of God and performing great and mighty works of God. Now in his days there was a great drought. During this drought, we remember the days he spent with the widow of Zarephath and her son, where the jar of flour and jug of oil miraculously remained full for the duration of the drought. When the widow’s son became ill and died, Elijah raised him from the dead. We remember Elijah who challenged 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, in which the Lord consumed Elijah’s burnt offering while the 450 Baal prophets’ burnt offering remained untouched. Elijah mocked Baal and those prophets and they were all slaughtered that day. Afterwards, God sent rain and ended their drought. In spite of all of those great works God performed through Elijah, he was no less a sinner and afflicted with doubts and fears. When wicked queen Jezebel heard that her Baal prophets had been bested and slaughtered by Elijah, she swore to have him killed. Elijah, afr...

Dear family and friends of Ronny, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. Ron confessed his faith on numerous occasions to me that his trust is in the Lord who forgave him his sins so that when he would die he may inherit eternal life. Ron is one of Christ’s sheep who is still in the flock, only he’s transferred from the earthly flock to the heavenly flock. Have hope in Christ, since for His sake you too are one of His sheep, forgiven your sins, and will join Ron in heaven one day. Whenever I’d visit with Ronny in the nursing home, he’d always steer the direction of our conversation towards three things. First, he’d talk about farming and how the crops look. Sometimes it was a little too wet or too dry, but he was always confident that there would be a good harvest to be had. Second, he would talk to me about fishing, telling me some fish story (which he always assured me was true) about some incredible catch of fish.  Third, he’d always tell me how thankfu...

Jesus says: “ Judge not. ” Yet, the Lord spoke through the prophet Zechariah, saying: “ Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. ” St. Paul later writes to the church in Corinth: “ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ” Jesus Himself, later in His sermon on the mount, just shortly after saying ‘judge not’ says: “ Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. ” Since the Bible doesn’t contradict itself, clearly Jesus is talking about something a little different than what we typically assume. Jesus isn’t telling us not to judge between right and wrong, truth and lies, good and evil. Even at the most basic level, staying alive necessitates judging between the good and the bad. For example, the good is that my body should be healthy, the bad is that my body should be unhealthy or injured, thus when walk...