Luther for the Busy Man

HOLY WEEK - SATURDAYLESSON: 1 JOHN 5:6-12The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Ephesians 1:3, 5-8When we discover what the Gospel of God’s free and unmerited love really is, we see how foolish it is to teach that people should bear suffering and death patiently to atone for their sins and to obtain grace. Some claim that if one bears all this patiently and willingly, all one’s sins will be forgiven accordingly. These people are seducers, because they conceal Christ with His death upon which our comfort depends. They induce people to rely on their own suffering and death.This is the very worst thing that can befall anyone in the end, because it is a way that leads straight into hell. You must learn to say, “What is my death and patience? Nothing at all! I will have nothing at all to do with it and will close my ears to it as far as any consolation is concerned. Christ’s suffering and death is my one consolation. On this I place my reliance and trust that through it my sins are forgiven. I will gladly suffer death for my God’s praise and honor freely, gratuitously, and in my neighbor’s service, but place no reliance on it for myself.”SL 11:527 (5)AE 76:351-52PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, thanks and praise be to You for the completeness of Your work of salvation for us and for making this known to us in Your holy Gospel for our eternal comfort and consolation. Amen.

HOLY WEEK - GOOD FRIDAYLESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14, 15Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18Thorns pricked the sacred head of Christ, but you have actually deserved the pricks of more than a hundred thousand thorns. To be sure, you have deserved to be pricked by such thorns in all eternity, and much worse than He was pricked. Christ had to suffer the agony of having His hands and feet pierced with nails; you have deserved to suffer from much worse nails in eternity.This is what will indeed befall those who disregard Christ’ suffering on their behalf. In this grim reflection, Christ does not lie or scold; what He indicates must surely follow. St. Bernard says, “I thought I was secure and knew nothing of the eternal sentence passed upon me in heaven until I saw that the only-begotten Son of God had mercy on me, stepped forth, and submitted to the sentence of condemnation on my behalf. If there is such seriousness here, it is not for me to play around any longer and to be secure.”This also explains Christ’s words to the women of Jerusalem: “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.… If they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:28, 31). Jesus means to say: “From my sufferings, learn what you have deserved and what will befall you.”Christ’s sufferings should always be pondered with the greatest of seriousness on our part. They are written for our warning to teach us the awful and horrible nature of sin.SL 11:577 (6-7)AE 76:427PRAYER: Lord God, our heavenly Father, let the awful sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ be for us a continual reminder of the horrible nature of all sin in your sight. Move us at all times to a serious consideration of our Savior’s passion and death on our behalf. Amen.

HOLY WEEK - MAUNDY THURSDAYLESSON: ROMANS 15:1-6Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2Not the least part of love or self-surrender is for me to be able to give away my self-conceit or arrogance. I can no doubt give my neighbor temporal good and bodily service with my painstaking toil. I can also serve him with instruction and intercession, for example, by visiting him and consoling him when he is sick or sad. I can feed him when he is hungry, free him from imprisonment, and such like. But the greatest of all the services I can render my neighbor is bearing his weakness.We will always fall short of the mark here. We will never attain to the perfection of Christ in this regard. He is the pure, bright Sun in which there is no mist. Our light is just like a glimmering stalk of straw in comparison with this Sun. Christ is a glowing oven full of fire and perfect love. But He is still satisfied with our little candle, if we provide some sort of evidence of letting our love shine forth.Take a look at the Gospel record and see how Christ dealt with His disciples. He bore with them when they were guilty of foolish conduct and even when they, at times, went astray. In their service, His wisdom yielded to their folly. He did not condemn them but bore their weakness with long-suffering patience. “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand,” He tells them on one occasion (John 13:7). Through such love He gives up His righteousness, judgement, might, wrath, punishment, and the rights he has over us and our sins. He could condemn us because of our folly. But He does no more than to say, “You are in the wrong; you do not know anything; do not, however, reject me, but trust me.”And so I say that it is no small example of love to be able to bear with our neighbor when he is weak in faith and love.SL 11:597 (26)AE 76:445-46PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, fill our hearts at all times with such love for our neighbor that we understand his weaknesses and needs and continue to bear with him, for Your name’s sake. Amen.

HOLY WEEK - WEDNESDAYLESSON: PSALM 19:7-14They understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said. Luke 18:34What Jesus said to the disciples had no meaning for them at this time. “This saying was hid from them.” This amounts to saying, “Reason, flesh, and blood cannot understand or grasp that Scripture should declare how the Son of Man must be crucified.” Still less can it understand that such is His will, and that He does this gladly.Reason does not believe that this is necessary for us; it wants to take care of itself before God with works. God must reveal this in our hearts by His Spirit, after proclaiming it outwardly into our ears by His Word.Even those to whom the Spirit reveals it inwardly find it hard to believe this and have to struggle with this.So great and wonderful a thing it is that the Son of man is crucified willingly and gladly to fulfill the Scriptures, that is, for our good. It is a mystery and remains a mystery.SL 11:527 (4)AE 76:351PRAYER: O Lord, we are always in need of the enlightenment of Your Holy Spirit through Your Word. We thank You that, through the Spirit, we can understand the treasures of Your Word and make them our own. Amen.

HOLY WEEK - TUESDAYLESSON: HEBREWS 10:1-7[Christ said,] “‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’ as it is written of me in the roll of the scroll.” Hebrews 10:7Christ’s sufferings are understood correctly when we do not simply regard the sufferings as such but recognize and grasp His heart and will to suffer. For if one regards His sufferings in isolation without recognizing His heart and will therein, one will be shocked by Christ’s sufferings rather than rejoice in them. But if one sees that Christ’s heart and will are in these sufferings, it produces real comfort, confidence, and pleasure in Christ.The psalmist praises this will of God and Christ in suffering when he says, “In the roll of the scroll it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:7-8). The epistle to the Hebrews also refers to this when it says, “By that will we have been sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10). It does not say through the suffering and blood of Christ, which is pure enough, but through the will of God and of Christ, that they were both of one will to sanctify us through Christ’s blood.This will to suffer He also manifests in the Gospel (Matthew 16:21-23), where He proclaims beforehand that He is going up to Jerusalem to suffer Himself to be crucified. It is as though He were saying, “Look into my heart to see that I am doing this willingly, without compulsion, and gladly, so that you may not be shocked or dismayed thereby when you see it come to pass and begin to think that I am doing it unwillingly, that I must do it, that I am forsaken, and that the Jews are doing it by their authority.”SL 11:526 (3)AE 76:350-51PRAYER: Thanks be to You, loving Father, for sending us such a ready and willing Savior, whose love for us has been manifested in His readiness and willingness to suffer and die for us and in our stead. Mercy and love are all Your ways, and those of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

HOLY WEEK - MONDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 16:21-23Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 16:21-23 before He entered upon His suffering, as He was on His way to Jerusalem. His immediate purpose was to celebrate Easter at Jerusalem. In all probability, the disciples had not the slightest idea of His impending sufferings at this time. They thought that they would have a joyful time at the festival.Christ mentions His sufferings on this journey so that the faith of His disciples might be strengthened later on when they recalled His words in which He had told them of His sufferings. He had submitted to these sufferings willingly and was not simply crucified through the power and cunning of the Jews.Isaiah had long foretold that He would willingly and gladly offer Himself (Isaiah 53:7). The angel, on Easter morning, also reminded the women to remember the words He had spoken to them (Luke 24:6) that they might know and more firmly believe that He suffered all this willingly and for our good.SL 11:526 (2)AE 76:350PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, thanks and praise to You for Your willingness and readiness to suffer and die on our behalf and for our good, for Your mercy’s sake. Amen.

SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT – PALMARUMPALM SUNDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 13:45-46“If anyone keeps my word.” John 8:51It is quite clear from the context in which these words stand what Jesus means here by “keeping” His Word. He does not mean “keeping” in the sense that “keep” has when one speaks about “keeping” the Law. One “keeps” the Law by means of works. When Christ speaks here of “keeping” His Word, He means “keeping” it in one’s heart by faith, not keeping it with the fist or with works.This is the wrong idea that the Jews have when they rage in such a horrible fashion against Christ and say to Him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death’” (John 8:52). They do not know what “keep,” “dying,” and “living” mean in this context.It is not without good reason that Jesus employs the word “keep” here, because keeping His Word involves a struggle and a battle, for sin bites, death exerts its presence, and hell threatens. Under such conditions we must “keep” Christ’s Word, cling to it firmly, and not let ourselves be parted from it.Note how Christ replies to the Jews in praise of His doctrine. “You claim,” He says, “that my Word is from the devil and you want to suppress it even beneath hell. But I say that it has divine power within it and exalt it above all the heavens and all creatures.”SL 11:570 (9)AE 76:412PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You have clearly shown us in our Gospel that Your teaching is the most precious thing we can ever learn in our earthly lives. Grant us Your grace to appreciate this fact at all times so that we keep Your Word, for Your truth’s sake. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - SATURDAYLESSON: HEBREWS 1:1-13Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58Jesus gives the basis and reason why it is just His Word and not that of anyone else which makes men live. It is simply this: that He “was” even before Abraham. “Before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus is the one true God.If the person who offered Himself for us were not God, it would help and avail nothing before God that He was born of a virgin or had suffered a thousand deaths. But the fact that the seed of Abraham, who gives Himself for us, is also the true God makes His sacrifice such a blessing for us and conquers sin and death for us.Jesus is not speaking here of His human nature which could be seen and felt. From His human aspect, it could be seen that He was not yet fifty years old and, hence, could not have seen Abraham. But with the nature by which He infinitely antedated Abraham, He also antedated all other creatures and the whole world.According to His spiritual essence, He was also man before Abraham; that is, in the word and knowledge of faith, He was in the saints who all knew and believed that Christ, God and man, would suffer for us. The writer of Hebrews says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In the Revelation of John we read of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Here Jesus is speaking of His divine nature.SL 11:573 (14)AE 76:414PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, fill our hearts with such faith and knowledge that we always fully appreciate the precious gift of Your only begotten Son, and all the blessings of salvation You have so richly bestowed on us in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - FRIDAYLESSON: GALATIANS 3:15-18“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” John 8:56Christ here declares in opposition to the Jews that Abraham and the prophets still live and never died, but that in the midst of death they have life. But they lie and sleep in death. “Your father Abraham,” He says, “rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” The prophets also saw Him.Where and when did they see Him? Not with bodily eyes, as the Jews understood Him to say, but with the vision of the faith which they had in their hearts. Abraham recognized Christ when He said to him, “By your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves” (Genesis 22:18). At that time, he saw and understood that Christ was to be born from his seed through a pure virgin and suffer for the whole world. He would not be cursed along with Adam’s children but remain blessed. He knew that his message would be proclaimed in all the world and bestow a blessing on the whole of mankind.Christ’s “day” is the time of the Gospel, which is the light of this day which shines with Christ, the sun of righteousness, and lights up all the world.This is a spiritual “day,” but it had a historical beginning in Christ’s time, which Abraham also “saw.”SL.XI.572,13AE 76,413PRAYER: Open the eyes of our faith and understanding by Your Holy Spirit, O Lord, that with Abraham of old we always rejoice to have seen Christ’s day, the day of salvation, and are really happy and joyful in our knowledge of Christ. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - THURSDAYLESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-56I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. Psalm 118:17How does it come to pass that one does not see death or taste it when Abraham and all the prophets died, who certainly had the Word of God, as the Jews also maintained? Here we must pay close attention to what Christ actually says and note that He makes a distinction between death in the ordinary common sense and not seeing death or tasting death.We must all pass through death and die. But a Christian does not taste death or see death, that is, he does not feel death. He is not terrified in the face of death. He enters it quietly and softly, as though he is falling asleep and not dying at all. But the godless man must feel death and be terrified by it eternally.To taste death means to experience the power and might or the bitterness of death and, indeed, eternal death and hell. God’s Word makes this distinction. The Christian knows this, and it helps him in the hour of death. He does not see heat. He sees nothing but life and Christ in the Word, and so he does not feel death. But the godless man does not have this Word; he has no life, but sheer death. So, he feels death, and eventually this is also the bitterness of eternal death.With the believer it is all so very different. He knows the Word of Christ: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25,26).SL.XI.571,10AE 76,412PRAYER: Be with us, dear Lord Jesus, especially in the hour of our death, that, firmly relying on Your promises, we may not taste death but pass through death into life eternal, as You have assured us. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - WEDNESDAYLESSON: JOHN 17:1-5“Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” John 8:51Jesus really spoils things for His enemies when He not only offers a good and stout defense of His doctrine but ascribes such might to it that it holds full sway over the devil, death, and sin, imparting eternal life and preserving men therein.See here how divine wisdom and human reason come into conflict! How can any man comprehend that a word spoken physically from a human mouth can save from death eternally?But away with blindness! We want to deal with this beautiful passage. He speaks here not concerning the word of the Law but concerning the word of the Gospel, which is a discourse concerning Christ who died for our sins. God did not want to impart Christ to the world in any other way but by including Him in His Word and thus spreading Him out and setting Him forth. Otherwise, Christ would have remained completely isolated by Himself and would never have become known. And thus, He would have died for Himself alone.Because the Word portrays Christ for us, it portrays for us Him who conquered sin, death, and the devil. Hence, anyone who grasps and holds the Word, grasps and holds Christ, and through the Word he also becomes freed from death eternally. Thus, it is a Word of life. It is true that he who keeps this Word will never see death eternally.SL.XI.570,8AE 76,411PRAYER: Thanks and praise be to You, O God, for the riches of Your grace and mercy revealed to us in Your holy Gospel, culminating in the assurance of eternal life and salvation in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - TUESDAYLESSON: ROMANS 12:14-21“I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he will be the judge.” John 8:50Why does Jesus not say in John 8:49, “I honor my Father and you dishonor Him”? He says, “You dishonor me.”In a veiled manner, He indicates that His Father’s honor and His own honor are identical, one and the same thing, just as He is one God together with His Father. At the same time, however, He wants to remind us that if our ministry in praise of God is to obtain its due honor, it must also suffer shame.We should also keep this in mind in our dealings with rulers and priests. When they question our lives, we will put up with it and repay them with love for hate and good for evil; but when they attack our doctrine, they are attacking God’s honor.Here there must be a limit to love and patience. We must not remain silent but say, “I honor my Father, and so you dishonor me. It does not matter much that you dishonor me, for I am not seeking my own honor. But at the same time take warning! There is one who is seeking my honor and judging it. The Father will demand it from you and not leave you unpunished. He does not only seek His honor, but mine as well, for He has declared, ‘Those who honor me I will honor’ (1 Samuel 2:30).”This is our consolation, so we can be quite joyful. Even though all the world casts shame on us and dishonors us, we are certain that God requires our honor and will punish, judge, and avenge. O that we would only believe it and wait upon Him! He is certainly coming!SL.XI.569,7AE 76,410-11PRAYER: You have assured us, both by much instruction and many examples, O Lord, that You will adequately defend the honor of Your Word and those who proclaim it. Fill our hearts with courage and confidence so that we never lost heart, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - MONDAYLESSON: JOHN 8:45“Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.” John 8:45It is true that no pastor’s life is ever so good that it is without sin before God. And so, it is enough if he is blameless in the eyes of his people. But his doctrine must be so good and pure that it stands up not only before men but also before God.A godly preacher may well find himself in a position to ask his hearers, “Who from among you is going to find fault with me? From among you, I say, my fellow human beings! But before God I am a sinner.”Moses does the same thing when he claims that he had not taken anything from them or harmed any one of them (Numbers 16:15).Samuel, Jeremiah, and Hezekiah could also appeal to their blameless lives before the people to stop the mouths of slanderers.Christ does not speak about His doctrine here. He does not say, “Who among you can fault my doctrine.” He says, “because I tell the truth.”One must be sure that one’s doctrine is the truth and right before God and must not be concerned only how it is regarded by men.SL.XI.568,3AE 76,409PRAYER: Grant us at all times such conviction of faith, heavenly Father, that we never have the slightest doubt that the whole truth of salvation has been revealed to us in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 5 - SUNDAYLESSON: JOHN 8:46-59“Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” John 8:46This Gospel teaches us how hardened sinners become even more furious when one instructs them and encourages them in a friendly manner. Christ here asks them in a really friendly manner to supply a reason why they do not believe in Him when they are in no position at all to find fault either with His life or His doctrine.His life is quite blameless. He can boldly confront the Jews with the challenge, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” His doctrine, too, is irreproachable, for He says, “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” Christ is one whose walk of life squared in every way with what He taught.Every preacher should always be quite confident about two factors. In the first place, he should lead a blameless life so that he may always have a courageous approach to his work and that he may not provide anyone with an easy excuse to blaspheme his doctrine. Secondly, his doctrine must also be blameless so that he never misleads anyone who follows him.In both respects, then, he will be doing what is right. With his good life, he will be gaining the advantage over his enemies, who are more concerned with his life than his doctrine and may despise his doctrine because of his life. With his doctrine, he is serving his friends, who are more concerned with his doctrine than with his life and will put up with his life for the sake of his doctrine.SL.XI.566, 1-2AE 76, 409PRAYER: Provide Your Church with faithful pastors, O God, who practice what they preach and whose proclamation is always sure and certain, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 4 - SATURDAYLESSON: JOHN 7:14-24“If I cast out demons by Be-elzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?” Luke 11:19Jesus certainly confronts His enemies here with a telling and crushing question when He asks them, “If I cast out demons by Be-elzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?” He means to ask them, “Is it not rabid hatred to condemn in me what you praise in your own children? When your children do something, it is from God; but because I do a thing, it must be from the devil.” That is how the world must react to Christ. What Christ does is of the devil; if someone else did it, it would be right.This is also the reasoning of the tyrants and enemies of the Gospel today. They condemn in us what they praise in themselves, and they confess it and teach it. This is how they must act, so that the judgment passed on them is publicly approved, namely, that their condemnation is correct. The “sons” who cast out devils, whom Christ mentions here, were, I believe, exorcists who functioned among the people. God bestowed many spiritual gifts on His people from of old. He calls them their “sons” as though He meant them to understand, “I am God’s son and yet I must belong to the devil; but those who are your ‘sons’ born from you do the same as I do but must not be regarded as belonging to the devil.”SL.XI.554,6AE 76,394PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You suffered scorn, mockery, contempt, and blasphemy for us, and men turned a deaf ear to Your testimony and proclamation. In all this we know, O Lord, that You have set a pattern for us to follow in Your name. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 4 - FRIDAYLESSON: ROMANS 6:1-11“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:25The meaning of Jesus is that he who clings to the Word will not feel or see death, even in the midst of death, as He also declares later on: “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, for I am the life” (John 11:25).Here we see what a wonderful thing the Christian faith really is, for it already saves us from death eternally and brings it to pass that we never die. The death and dying of a Christian is just like that of an unbeliever externally, but inwardly there is as much difference here as the difference between heaven and earth. For the Christian sleeps in death and passes through it to life, but the unbeliever passes from life to experience death eternally.We also see this from the way in which some shake in terror, are full of doubt and even despair, and completely lose all reason and sense in the throes of death.This is why Scripture also calls death a sleep. For just as the one who falls asleep does not really know what is happening to him and recovers consciousness quite suddenly in the morning when he wakes up, so we, too, will arise on the last day without any knowledge how we died and passed through death.SL.XI.571,11AE 76,412-13PRAYER: Lord Jesus, draw us ever closer to You in true and living faith so that we firmly believe that, whether we live or die, we are Yours and the heirs of eternal life and blessedness with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 4 - THURSDAYLESSON: PSALM 36Thy steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Thy faithfulness to the clouds. Psalm 36:5God’s power and might is in the very bread we eat. He is present in this bread and nourishes us through it and under it, but in an invisible manner. We think that it is the bread that does it all! But where no bread is available, He nourishes men without bread by His Word alone. He acts here also as He acts under the bread, invisibly. The bread is His “fellow worker,” as Paul says, “We are fellow workers for God” (1 Corinthians 3:9).Through and under our external office of the ministry, He gives His grace inwardly—that grace which He could actually give without our office and does give without it. But while the office is there, one should not despise it or tempt God.So also He nourishes us through bread externally, but inwardly He alone gives the growth and digestion which the bread cannot give. In short, all creatures are God’s masks and mummers, whom He wants to work along with Him and help Him to accomplish all sorts of things, which He could certainly accomplish without their co-operation and also does accomplish without them.This is what He has ordained so that we should learn to cling to His pure Word alone. If there is bread, do not put all your confidence in it; if there is no bread, there are still no grounds for despair. Use the bread when it is available and do without it when it is not available.But at all times we should be certain that we are nourished by the Word of God, whether bread is available or not. With this faith, one conquers greed, bodily indulgence, and temporal concern for our nourishment.SL.XI.539,16AE 76,370PRAYER: Keep us ever alert, heavenly Father, to the fact that we continually need the blessing of Your Word in all that we do in our daily lives, even in our eating and drinking, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

LENT - WEEK 4 - WEDNESDAYLESSON: PSALM 121My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2There are situations in life when God really strips us bare and we suffer want, even in regard to such matters as clothing, housing, and the like. But before very long, clothing has to be found, otherwise the very leaves would have to be plucked from the trees and become coats and cloaks for us to wear, just as it happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness, whose clothing and shoes remained intact (Deuteronomy 8:2,4). So also the wild deserts became their houses and provided ways for them where there were no ways and water where there was no water; indeed, stones became water for them.God’s Word stands fast, which says, “He cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7). What Paul says to Timothy is only too true: “God [...] richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).Christ’s own words in His Sermon on the Mount also apply here: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore, do not be anxious” (Matthew 6:33,34). Such words must remain true and stand fast into all eternity.It is quite a common sight that poor people and their children are better conditioned and that their provisions seem to go further and to be more beneficial than is the case with the wealthy and their rich supplies. In many ways, we are reminded that earthly provisions are not the only matter of importance. God’s Word nourishes all men.SL.XI.538,13AE 76,369PRAYER: Lord Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, you have assured us that you will be with us always, even to the end of time. For this reason, we now turn to you in the faith and conviction that you will always hear us, for your truth’s sake. Amen.