Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Devotion based on 1 Thessalonians 3:10

You are missing something. As you are preparing dinner for your family you realize that one key ingredient is missing. Do you try to find a substitute? Do you just ignore it and hope for the best? Or do you drop everything and run to the store because you know that it just will not taste the same without it?

The world is missing something. Every day, a different “secret sauce” is marketed to make me happier and healthier, look younger, lose weight, get richer, live longer—the list goes on and on. But even if I can shed those stubborn pounds and smooth out a few wrinkles, how long before the next chocolate chip cookie or the newest line in my skin sends me looking for the next “something” that will fix all my problems?

You and I possess far greater problems than the externals that people can see and judge us by. There is One who sees the internal—our hearts and our souls. He knows our lives and what we do and say and think. And he, our God, has every right to judge us by our deeds and words.

Jesus came to give us what we lack. The perfect obedience that God demands he gives to us through faith in his Son. Jesus came to take away the sins that we commit. And then he gives us the ingredients to build us up in faith.

The Bible. Baptism. The Lord’s Supper. They seem so simple. We might want something more dramatic. We might expect we have to sacrifice or somehow do something to deserve to receive his message. We might think we have to do something drastic to find the secret sauce.

But this is how he builds us in faith. Through a steady diet of his Word, God comes to us, builds us up in faith, and keeps us strong to handle the problems that life throws at us. And through his Word, we have all that we need.

Prayer: