Christian Reflection and Prayer

INAUGURATION DAY

 

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” —
Exodus 3:5

 

Leaders can easily fall into the trap of being out of touch
with the people. Most leaders of nations enjoy luxuries that
the general public does not. It’s easy to become insensitive
to the needs of the common man or unsympathetic to a poor
man’s plight. God, on the other hand, says “Don’t you dare!
My people are my precious children.” Moses was commanded
to remain as sensitive as he was at that moment until the day
that he died.

 

Insensitivity is a trap we all can fall into. It’s hard to empathize
with the hungry if your stomach is always full, or to feel for the
homeless when we are enjoying the comfort and warmth of our
own homes. But, friends, we who serve the Lord are on “holy
ground.” We must remain acutely sensitive to the needs of His
children and do our best to meet them, whenever and however
we can.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

― Emma Lazarus

PLEASE DON'T TURN THEM AWAY

But now thus says the LORD, He who created you, O
Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I
have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you
are Mine." - Isaiah 43:1

 

Now most of you know John 3:16 -- the "Gospel in a
nutshell." You remember how it begins: "For God so
loved the world ...." That passage means the Lord
knows and loves everybody, which includes all the
billions of people who have ever or will ever live.

God loves everybody. Scripture is clear on that. But it
is also clear that He loves me, the individual.

 

When Jesus was born, it was to save me. When He
knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, He received and
carried my sins. When He died, that was for me ...
and so was His resurrection. And now, as Luther said,
"The Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel and
keeps me in the faith."

 

And that's true for you, too. You see, you are a very
special, a one-of-a-kind person to the Lord.

 

THE PRAYER:

 

Dear Lord, truly You are a great God. You have the
capacity to love and reach out to save an entire world,
but You do so one soul at a time. I pray that while
there is still time, the lost may come to know You,
appreciate You, and love You in return. This I ask in
Jesus' Name. Amen

 

(Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)