Reflections

November 12, 2023

Today's Reading: Matthew 25:1-13

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 27:1-26, Matthew 17:14-27

The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.”  (Matthew 25:8)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Some read this parable and say “Do you have enough oil?”  Or in other words, “Do you have enough faith?” That’s the question so many want to ask today in Christianity. No way, that is not how Christianity works. Faith is a gift, given wholly and freely to you by God the Holy Spirit! You did not choose this, rather Christ has chosen you! And your faith is always kept for you by God!  God in his unconditional love goes to great lengths to protect our faith. Faith can die, we can walk away. 

However Jesus’ desire, His plan, is to keep our lamps filled with oil so we can rejoice when He, the Bridegroom, arrives. He gives us lamps. He lights our lamps. He fills our lamps with oil. He keeps our lamps full of oil. How does He do this? Our lamps are filled with Christ through His Word. We need the oil that Holy Scripture can bring. In hearing the Word, in preaching and teaching, oil is poured into our lamps so that we are prepared for whatever may come our way. At the font Christ filled you by washing you clean and warding off the attacks of Satan. At this Holy Table, where Christ enters your body and soul to forgive your sin, strengthen your faith in this difficult, fallen world.  You are given faith, you are in Christ, you are His beloved who is seated at the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Zion hears the watchmen singing,  And all her heart with joy is springing; She wakes, she rises from her gloom. For her Lord comes down all-glorious, The strong in grace, in truth victorious;  Her star is ris'n, her light is come.  Now come, Thou Blessed One,  Lord Jesus, God's own Son,  Hail! Hosanna! We enter all  The wedding hall To eat the Supper at Thy call.  (LSB 516:2)

- Pastor Kent Schaaf is pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Little Rock. AR.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 11, 2023

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 24: Psalm 84:1, 9-12; antiphon Psalm 84:3

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 25:17-26:19, Matthew 17:1-13

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King | and my God. (Psalm 84:3 )

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God makes room for the worthless.  It strikes a chord with my self hate that understands the Law better than I wish it did. I understand what I break. I understand what I fail to do. The sparrow costs a penny. Sometimes I’m pretty sure the sum of my time isn’t worth that.  But the sparrow finds a home at the LORD’s altars.  Not just to visit. To live.  

Lots of people will put up with me for a time. But I’m pretty sure they’ll leave.  God calls me to live here.  And there is a promise never to cast me out. He doesn’t bicker with me about the best construction. He doesn’t weigh the pros and cons of my time here. He just forgives. Daily. Renews.  Daily.  Grants worth, not based on what I can do, but based on what was paid for me. Daily.  I’m worth the blood of Jesus. He feeds it to me here, at His altars.  I want to live here. Free from the accusations of the Law. Where there’s an answer to my self-talk as the Gospel is preached to me by my pastor, who won’t argue either. He just forgives.  I’d rather be a doorkeeper here than invited into the tents of wickedness. Not because I choose good. But because in those tents all I am is the sum of what I do.  I know what that leaves me with, even if I manage to take a little more from others.  

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts.  It is a shield against the torments of reality.  Not because it’s fake. But because it grants a new creation. A new reality. It changes what was wrong into what is forgiven. Here, there is favor and honor. I sit with brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us equal, all of us redeemed, and all of us loved.  No good thing does the LORD withhold from us.  Even in this veil of tears, when He safekeeps it for a time until the Resurrection.  We’d only ruin it if we got it before then.  He still gives us the foretaste in His supper.  We participate in the Resurrection even now. This is why I go to church. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me (LSB 878:1)

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 10, 2023

Today's Reading: 

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 24:10-25:10, Matthew 16:13-28

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Who do you say that the Son of Man is? We’re still asking the same question.  We’re past the days where people haven’t heard the name Jesus.  Even today, He still gets a lot of press.  The thing is, when you listen, we all seem to be talking about someone different. Most of them aren't real. 

There's a good example of Jesus, who helps you be better until you don’t wanna be so bad anymore.  But most of the time he just ends up being the guy used to bash you over the head when you don’t do what someone else wants you to.  There’s bigoted Jesus who calls people sinners in a hate filled book that does nothing but set the scene for hate crimes in the name of a higher power.  Some just say he’s a myth, because how could a loving God let the world look like this? If I were God I’d do things differently, and even though I need help using the dishwasher sometimes, I’m still pretty sure I’m smarter than any deity that created us.

Have you noticed a common theme yet? Grab hold of a select part of the Law, ignore the Gospel completely, then weaponize religion.  It’s what the people wanted from Elijah, who they wanted to be a weapon against a world set against them.  It’s what they wanted from John the Baptist and Jeremiah, who were both ridiculed and hated by the world and the religious alike, not because they were wrong, but because they called everyone to seek mercy in the Lord who not only calls sin wrong, but loves sinners enough to forgive them.  

But who do you say the Son of Man is? This is ‘not a what does Jesus mean to you’ essay.  That’s where all of those other ones went wrong.  Not one is a confession of who God is, just speeches about how we’d use Him.  You can try to use the law, but you can only receive the gospel.  And if Jesus is something to use, not receive, he only ends up being what we wish he was.  Either to help us win, or to excuse us from having to listen to Him, it always ends up being law and no gospel.  Those are answers from flesh and blood.  They should sound ridiculous.  

This is not a chance to come up with your own answer.  Instead we’re given a common confession. Peter’s answer is not from flesh and blood, but from God. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  We answer the same.  Because there’s mercy there for sinners. For us. It will stand. Even against the gates of hell. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Here stands the font before our eyes, Telling how God has received us. The_altar recalls Christ’s sacrifice And what His Supper here gives us. Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim Christ yesterday, today, the same, And evermore, our Redeemer (LSB 645:4).

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 9, 2023

Today's Reading: 

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 21:1-23, Matthew 16:1-12

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.” (Matthew 16:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus tells the Pharisees that there will be no sign except the sign of Jonah, His death and Resurrection.  Then He rebukes the disciples because they do not remember the signs given to them in the feeding of the 5000.  One side gets yelled at for wanting more signs.  The other gets yelled at for not expecting to see more.  Thanks, Jesus. 

The Pharisees and the disciples have the same problem.  They take their eyes off of Jesus.  The Pharisees only want signs, not what they point to, God made man to die for sinners.  They want appetizers, but not dinner.  The disciples don’t expect signs, because they overlook the simple idea that God will care for them, even though He was made man to die for sinners. They sit at the table and are shocked there’s actually food there. I shouldn’t write reflections when I’m hungry.  Or I’ll just pretend to be like Jesus and insist I’m not actually talking about food, either. 

In all reality, when it comes to miracles we usually set our hearts in the wrong places too.  We want a vending machine God who only gives us the things we ask Him for, and could care less about what He actually wills.  We seek miracles that prove He’s real when the greatest miracle of all towers over us, not just as a sign, but as salvation.  He dies and rises from the grave.  The sign of Jonah is death and resurrection. It is a historically verifiable miracle, proof that Jesus is God, who has saved you.  

The sign of Jonah is what we cling to in doubt and fear. It’s what we cling to for forgiveness for seeking the leaven of the Pharisees and for not seeing the goodness God daily bestows upon us in ways we just overlook.  Look to the cross, where Jesus died for you. It isn’t just Him proving Himself right to those who are wrong. It’s Him winning salvation for them, for us, for you.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Faithful cross, true sign of triumph, Be for all the noblest tree; None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thine equal be; Symbol of the world’s redemption, For the weight that hung on thee (LSB 454:4)

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 8, 2023

Today's Reading: Luther's Small Catechism: Confession

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 20:1-20, Matthew 15:21-39

Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God doesn’t just want to forgive your sins.  He wants you to firmly believe that your sins are forgiven.  He wants to address your conscience.  Because you’re baptized, and that daily and richly forgives your sins.  But sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.  Sometimes it just clings. Scratches. Tears apart from the inside out.  That thing that you want to erase.  God wants to speak to you about it.  Tell you that it’s gone.  As far as the east is from the west.  

Guilt festers. So God speaks.  He uses your pastor to tell you.  Your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  That sin is forgiven.  Because I can walk past a group of people who start laughing and tell myself that it’s definitely not at me. But sometimes it feels better to hear for sure.  God speaks forgiveness from the outside in so that when guilt piles up, He would be able to remove it.  

See, it isn’t a question of whether you can be saved. Jesus died and rose. Your sins are forgiven. Paid for already.  The real battle ground is over your conscience.  The devil would have you look only at yourself in guilt.  God wills that you have a pure conscience, and so He gives us confession.  Go to your pastor.  Hear about forgiveness. Don’t stew in guilt.  If you wait until Sunday, fine. Your sins are forgiven. But if it keeps you awake on a Tuesday night, know that you can go earlier. God doesn’t only forgive sins an hour a week. Private confession exists to give you the same gifts whenever you need them. It isn’t about talking more about a sin you want to think about less. It’s about not having to let it hang over you until Sunday.  Private confession exists so that forgiveness is given out each day as it is needed. In all of it, though, God simply wills you firmly to believe. You don’t suffer from doubt. You don’t suffer anguish. So confess, and hear absolution.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

And though it tarry through the night And till the morning waken, My heart shall never doubt His might Nor count itself forsaken. O Israel, trust in God your Lord. Born of the Spirit and the Word, Now wait for His appearing (LSB 607:4).

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 7, 2023

Today's Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 19:1-20, Matthew 15:1-20

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;” (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. For all the talk of sexual ethics in the church, it’s easy to overlook the first and most important sentence.  God wills you to be holy.  So He makes you that way.  He takes all that is unholy from you and bleeds for it. He cleanses you in the waters of Baptism and gives you a new identity. His child.  Holy. Worthy of love.  Holy people do holy things in the same way that apple trees make apples.  That isn’t to cast off the idea of good works as unimportant. It’s to recognize they flow out of what we are.  

Now we can talk about sexual sins.  In Jesus, they are forgiven.  In Jesus, you are forgiven.  But sometimes even that’s hard to hear.  There’s a reason.  It isn’t just that some sins pollute more than others.  It’s that some seem to grab hold of us in a way that they become our all.  Our identity.  That’s the real issue with these sins.  It isn’t that they can’t be forgiven.  Christ died for all the world, even sinners who sin like that. Like us.  It’s that we wrestle with these sins on such a personal level that we can finally understand the nature of original sin. It isn’t what we do. It’s who we are.  Corrupt. When we lean into that identity, we lean away from Christ.  When we would rather be known by our sin than our Savior, it says more about us than it does about Him who died to forgive us these very sins.  

You are not the sum of your lusts, your actions, your browser history, or the things you’ve endured.  You are Christ’s.  Holy. Worthy of love. Not because you’ve abstained. Because Christ died.  This is the will of God. That you be holy. So we lean into that. We try to serve our neighbor. We try to tame our lusts.  And when we fail, we return to the source of holiness to be made new all over again in Baptism.  It’s war. You’ll lose. A lot.  But Christ still wills you to be holy so firmly that He makes you that way all over again. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, forsake me not! Take not Your Spirit from me; Do not permit the might Of sin to overcome me. Increase my feeble faith, Which You alone have wrought. O be my strength and pow’r—O God, forsake me not!  (LSB 731:2)

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 6, 2023

Today's Reading: Micah 3:5-12

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 18:1-22, Matthew 14:22-36

“Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.” (Micah 3:5)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. People have been weaponizing religion ever since sinners realized there was power in it.  It’s not ok.  Ever.  From simple greed to much darker sins, it’s hard to see how organized religion seems to function.  I get why people would swear it off.  

The LORD speaks through Micah and promises a retribution most seem to avoid today, even if Jerusalem was handed over into captivity back when.  The people looking for vengeance are still a step behind the rest of the heartbroken who have sworn “never again”.  They want to see someone hurt. Maybe they have. Maybe not yet.  But the rest ask the more important question.  Why would God want there to be a church in the first place when this is what is done with it? It’s probably the best question to ask. 

Because The LORD is pretty unhappy with those who would make weapons out of the things that make for peace, too.  That gives you the chance to consider something.  God sees the evil done within His walls and still decides to keep His religion around.  If you pack a box full of sinners, they’re gonna sin, even if the box is called a church.  That doesn't just mean you have to take the bad with the good. Decry it. Leave no room for sin to thrive.  And grow from it what the evil one would only use for ruin by realizing that it can’t stop God from working peace even when false prophets would try to wield it like a club.  The peace that He gives is so potent that it thrives where evil would only destroy.  It’s so powerful that evil men would use it for selfish gain.  But God is so good that He would let that power remain so that it can save us sinners.  That truth grants grace not just to look at yourself, but to look at the religion and hope.  Christ came to suffer at the hands of the same kind of men.  He redeemed His church that it would be again a bringer of good news to men.  His mercy is given even where evil would attack it, but His mercy endures and thrives to make a mockery of every terrible plot.  There is bad in the church, but there is God working salvation too. If it is evil, cast it out. If it is of Jesus, cling to it. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Spirit, who didst once restore Thy Church that it might be again The bringer of good news to men, Breathe on Thy cloven Church once more, That in these gray and latter days There may be those whose life is praise, Each life a high doxology To Father, Son, and unto Thee (LSB 834:4)

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 5, 2023

Today's Reading: Matthew 23:1-12

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 17:1-20, Matthew 14:1-21

“And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. These verses either read like a threat to authority or an excuse to ignore it.  Maybe because the whole “unity in Christ” bit would be a lot easier if we weren’t told what to do by people who screw up.  So we get vaguely punk rock about it and try to ignore the fact that the very voice that told Moses the 4th commandment was to honor your mother and father is now telling us to ignore all that. 

Still, it sounds good.  If nobody can tell anyone else what to do, nobody is above or below anyone else. Unity.  After all, real unity always happens when everyone just does what they want on their own anyway. Understand what it all means.  Best case scenario, this is just another chance to turn inward. You’re all you’ve got and the best thing God would ever give you is an excuse to ignore what you don't like and be on your own. And when you look in the mirror and pretend never even a hint of doubt that you might be wrong, that you might be not good enough, that you might actually be a sinner like the one true Father says, then what? At least it’s all equal in the pit? 

But what if God actually loved us enough to want to help sinners? It sounds like a nice enough concept until you see who He sent to help you. Other sinners. Parents and teachers.  The real miracle is that their sin won’t stop God from working through them.  Even in the mess their sin makes.  Call no one father, but know your Father in Heaven loves you so much He would give you one anyway, then work through him, even if he’s wrong sometimes. God is still stronger. 

Real unity doesn’t come at the expense of casting off anyone given to you who happens to be a sinner. Real unity comes from the cross where Christ does away with our Sin.  Christ, who promises to work good through sinners who continue to sin. Real unity comes from Baptism. From a God who calls you His own child no matter who you are or what you’ve done, then gives you others to love and be loved by, then even promises to work through all of you. None of us will do it perfectly. All of us will receive forgiveness. This is where we speak in unity. Our Father who art in heaven. And He is. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Merciful and gracious Lord, You cause Your Word to be proclaimed in every generation. Stir up our hearts and minds by Your Holy Spirit that we may receive this proclamation with humility and finally be exalted at the coming of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 4, 2023

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 23: Psalm 149:1-4; antiphon Psalm 148:13

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 15:19-16:22, Matthew 13:44-58

For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. (Psalm 149:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We treat it like it reads “pretend to be less than you are and God will be happy with you.”  Really, it’s “when you are so humiliated the best you could hope for is pity, and it tastes so sour you’re not sure whether or not you’d just prefer to be abandoned, the Lord sees you the same way your dog does when you come home from school.” 

Where I come from, humble just means “don’t be braggy”.  Which means the Psalm reads something like give God praise for all the things you’re afraid to admit publicly to having because they sound too nice.  It makes for a monotonous liturgy.  But humble doesn’t mean pretending to be less than you are. It shares a root with humiliation.  The thing where you actually are less and you know that everyone knows it.  Humiliation is a word that somehow becomes a time machine to everyone’s terrible,horrible no good very bad days.  

But it is the humiliated that God adorns with salvation. He wraps it around you like clothing, so that others may see it too. It looks like white robes.  Baptism.  The mark of the baptized isn’t a lack of humiliation. It’s an identity that cannot be marred by it.  It brings about the genuine praise the Psalm calls for.  He is the God who sees us in our humiliation and is exalted by joining us in it and conquering it for us.  He leaves the angel choirs to be mocked by the crowds.  He leaves the power of heaven to die at the hands of ignorant men, naked and ashamed.  He is helpless as His mother looks on.  And after dying to save the ones who did it to Him, us, He rises.  He promises the same to you.  You are not just God’s creation, but His children. The liturgy sings not of how you feel on your good days or your humiliated ones, but of God’s works, that we would have something to cling to when everything seems to slip away, and something to taste in His body and blood that aren’t sour. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

At the name of Jesus Ev’ry knee shall bow, Ev’ry tongue confess Him King of glory now. ’Tis the Father’s pleasure We should call Him Lord, Who from the beginning Was the mighty Word (LSB 512:1).

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

November 3, 2023

Today's Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 14:1-2, 22-23, 14:18-15:15, Matthew 13:24-43

We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:12)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Paul throws this verse in at the end of telling everyone how great a job he and his fellow pastors have done.  I can hardly read it. I feel guilty.  I am guilty.  I have not worked as hard, walked as purely, or served as well.  When I look at my works, I have not walked in a manner worthy of God.  Lord have mercy.  Not just on me, but on the people I’ve been charged with caring for.  

It’s so easy to mark our failures in the face of other’s success.  It’s not even jealousy.  It’s shame.  It’s compounded when I read Paul’s words.  My sins didn’t just hurt me and the people around me.  They hurt the witness of Christ.  You hear it everywhere.  The world loves our hypocrisy. We believe in a Law we don’t walk in.  We love commandments we break daily.  They imagine our sin proves our faith wrong because we are not by our works what God commands us to be.  But we are what God commands us to be by His works.  He forgives our hypocrisy.  He forgives my sins and yours.  

And this is a greater witness to the power of our religion than me being a good person.  I really still wish I was. I really still wish I did better, and I really do want to do better.  But the walk in a manner worthy of God isn’t about your steps. It’s you being carried home by the Good Shepherd who seeks those who have strayed.  He daily seeks us in our rebellion. Daily gathers us and carries us home in mercy.  That’s actually the bigger miracle.  That God would forgive me. I hope that’s what I can be known as. I hope that’s the witness. Jesus forgives sinners, of which I am numbered.  God be praised.

When it comes to Christian witness, let it be the Law and the Gospel, and not just the Law.  Let it be not our works, but Christ’s mercy.  None of us can by our own works be worthy of God.  All of us, by our Baptism, are worthy already.  We walk as we have been made to be.  Redeemed.  Faith in Jesus goes to Jesus.  We seek the Lord in His mercy when we have failed to live up to the standards of the Law.  It isn’t just a place God covers your shame.  It is a place He demonstrates the worthiness of our faith.  The worthiness of His name.  We have a God who forgives sinners, and invites more to receive the same. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me  And on His shoulder gently laid  And home rejoicing brought me (LSB 709:3).

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.