Five hundred years ago Martin Luther knew that he needed the strong fortress of God. He struggled and studied and prayed, but still the security he sought eluded him. Finally he realized that God had made it very simple. Our salvation was won for us by Jesus Christ. It is not about what we need to do, it’s all about what God has done. God has made a strong and eternal fortress for us. Not sin, or the devil, or even death can knock down the walls of the strong fortress God has built around us in Christ Jesus.   

Jacob wrestled with an angelic messenger from God. Jesus tells us a story about a woman who persistently petitions an unjust judge until he finally grants her justice. We can be confident that God is ultimately good and just. Our loving Father always hears our prayers. Though His answers may not always be what we want or expect we can forever be confident that God is always good.

God is faithful to us even in those ordinary times and places where it might not seem that much of anything is happening. Those may even be the times when God is most faithful: those days when we are on a long slow journey. Many of our days are not especially dramatic, things are not beginning nor are they ending. We might be traveling so slowly it is hardly possible to notice. But those might be the days when God is holding us most strongly, keeping us on course. God, who is eternal and has no beginning and no end is perfectly comfortable being present with us in all the places in between. Paul tells Timothy to “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” God had to keep things on course over 28 generations in order to make the connection from King David to Jesus Resurrection. He is indeed Lord over all the in between.   

We are blessed by God to lead a faithful life. His Spirit, His Word, and His Love is what makes our life of faith possible. How would it change this day of your life to remember that God wants your faith to be a lively part of it? You might look for a different way to interpret the unfolding events. You could talk with a friend and listen for some new insight. Jesus knew that he needed to both challenge and console His disciples in order to give them a living faith that is constant and true. God wants us to have faith for the ups and the downs and everything in between. We celebrate the gift of a living faith.  

  Jesus tells a parable of a rich man, whose name we never know, and a poor man, whose name is Lazarus. The rich man had it all while Lazarus had nothing but crumbs. As they both die on the same night this is all reversed. The rich man is in anguish and Lazarus is right next to Abraham in honor. The rich man begs for mercy, but it is too late; a great chasm has been fixed that no one can cross. The rich man begs that his five living brothers might be warned; he is told that even if someone should rise from the dead, they will not be convinced. The name "Lazarus" means, "God is my help."  The parable reveals that God wants us to have His eternal and infinite riches forever. As Jesus has triumphed over all things we celebrate that we are rich in God's most priceless treasure now and forever.

Some of the parable stories that Jesus tells are so rich with meaning they can apply to many things. Jesus tells us a story about a master who has a reputation for generosity. When his unjust steward discounts everyone’s bills, he doesn’t assert his legal right to reverse the steward’s actions; instead, he stays consistent with his reputation and generously forgives the debts. As we rejoice in the generosity of God we also hear another layer to Jesus’ story. God calls us to use wisely and well whatever He entrusts to us. Today and for eternity we get to celebrate our generous God.

God sets new things before us. He is a consistent renewing Spirit for us. Our readings today speak to us of God’s ability to lead us back, or help us to find what was lost. Paul writes in 1st Timothy about the dramatic turn His life took by the grace and mercy of God. Jesus tells us a couple of short little stories to help us imagine the transforming nature of God’s care and compassion for us. Once we have found this, we like the woman who finds a valuable coin that had been lost, will exclaim, “Rejoice with me.”

Jesus echoes Moses’ words that when God enters our world new vistas open before us. God shows us sacred and eternal things. God sets before us life and love of God and compassion for everyone around us. These are the things we can choose today because God has made it so. Choosing the things of God may require careful thought and even sacrifice. We ask for the Holy Spirit to lead us and teach, and inspire us. We pray that we may choose what God has set before us: the good and eternal things that are right and true.

Most of us would agree that life can be hard. We would probably also agree that life is incredibly meaningful. The challenge we all face is putting those two things together in order to say that even the hardship in life can be meaningful. C S Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” God can use everything and anything in our lives to purify us, make us more holy, and draw us closer to Him. Jesus spoke of this as a “narrow door.” Even when life is hard God is good, all the time!

Look at the world around you and sense that it must have been designed and built by someone. Here begins the journey of faith and it can carry you very far. You can look at the evidence and decide to believe that a man named Jesus rose from his grave alive. Believing that will change a lot of things about your life, both now and forever. Faith can be a way of looking at the world and interpreting everything that happens. Things look very different when you are ready to affirm that there is a good, merciful, and just God. It is a dramatic and wonderful thing to let your heart be led by the eyes of faith.