Daily Lectionary: Judges 15:1-16:3; Galatians 3:23-4:11

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. How often have you waited with eager expectation for something? Maybe it was a birthday, spring break, or Christmas. How did you feel? Did your expectations for that great day keep building until you couldn't wait anymore? I imagine that most of us at one time or another have been so excited for a day to arrive that we could hardly stand it. But no matter how much we tried, we could not make time go by faster to speed up the arrival of the special day. 

This was exactly how the people of God felt throughout the entire Old Testament. From the moment the first promise of the coming of the Messiah was made, the people watched, waited, and longed for Him to come. Days passed, years came and went, and then at just the right moment and exactly when the Father wanted it to happen, Jesus came. God sent His Son into a world filled with sin. Jesus was righteous and holy, yet He was born under the Law. Born a man just like all of us, the Son of God lived under the Law. Perfectly fulfilling all the commands of God, He did everything we could not. Suffering and dying in our place on the Cross, your Savior paid the price so that you might be received into the family of God.

Jesus has forgiven you of all your sins. Now you are part of God's family.

Because Jesus has fulfilled the Law for us, we are no longer slaves to it. Now, because of Christ, we are free to live as sons of God. This means that by faith the new man in us desires to love and serve God and to love and serve our neighbor. We do this by following the Law of God. However, we are still sinners, and this means that as long as we live on earth, we will daily fail to follow the Law. We still need Jesus, and because the fullness of time has come, He is here for us. When we return to our Baptisms each day, we receive forgiveness from Christ, and this is the greatest gift we can ever receive. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Heavenly Father, we give thanks to You for sending forth Your Son, Jesus our Savior. Please keep us strong in the faith so that we might live and serve You. Amen.

-Rev. William K. Stottlemyer is pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hancock, MD.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Christians need to aspire to being people of THE faith. Not just any will do. In Faith Misused, Dr. Alvin Schmidt shares his case for a Christian reclaiming of the word “faith” from its ambiguous modern uses. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.