Lenten Devotions: March 8, 2014

March 8, 2014                                    Psalm 51

Saturday                                    Isaiah 58:1-12

                                                Matthew 18:1-7

“Have mercy upon me, oh Lord, according to Thy tender mercies; blot out my transgressions.” It is so very easy to put on the blinders that make us feel better about ourselves and help us get through the day. After all, I go to church every Sunday. I pray daily. I receive the eucharist. Often I am secretly like the Pharisee singing of my own righteousness and forgetting what true repentance is. I remember David, author of this psalm, chosen of the Lord over all his brothers, and the founder of the city of God. David the savior of Israel, great king, mighty warrior. I’m special too, like David. But wait…I’m not so perfect. Oh, yes, and David wasn’t so perfect either. It was difficult for him, as it is for us, to acknowledge our sins and our devotion is often turned to “quarreling and strife.” Our fasting and our devotion needs to begin with recognizing we are sinners and yet justified as Luther taught. It’s so easy for me to forget this. In so doing, returning to the Lord and His righteousness, I can see what my true devotion needs to be, to “come round right” as it says in “Simple Gifts.” Then I will see my duty to those in need. Then we can serve one another in our weaknesses and thereby “build up the foundations and repair the breaches” in our own lives. Then that spring of water that is God-given will be able to nourish us and wash us clean of our offenses. God is there, doing the loving and the serving. We must awake from sleep and become conscious that He is always at hand. This happens every time I remove myself from the equation and put Him first. He is able to make all things new. New faith, new life, new opportunities…just as the childlike faith is pure as Jesus observes.

Dear Father, help me to waken to this truth and always to hold Thy grace foremost in my life. Amen

Franklyn Commisso