Devotion 8.15.22

 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." Ephesians 6:10 - 11

We said goodbye to our faithful servant Pastor Dan Borkenhagen yesterday at Hope Lutheran Church and School. Dan is returning to his roots in Minnesota, land of my own forefathers. My dad moved to Houston in 1954 from Minnesota, so I've claimed Minnesota as part of my heritage equal to my claim on Texas (Mom is a fourth generation Texan). I have a love of both.

Dan's final sermon was based on Ephesians 6 and included the passage above. I listened intently to his final words, and he said something significant during the course of his sermon. We may not align with our deeply divided culture in this world (as Christ referred to "this world" in our gospel lesson from John 17), but our opposition to our brethren on the other side of the debate doesn't identify them as "evil." Rather, we oppose the evil that may lurk behind them.

I once heard a speaker that said the biggest obstacle in our lives isn't those who oppose us, it is the person on your driver's license. I'm my biggest obstacle to my own progress for many reasons.  Oh sure, there may be a person who represents a different view in life that I may not agree with that may be contrary to God's Word, but I can only control my own reaction, the potential evil within me. As we get tested by God and tempted by Satan (James 1), we turn to God and ask for strength to live up to the test He's put before us, and to turn away from the temptation, the trap that Satan has set to lure us into a sin.

Dan has given us five great years of his own story, his own highs and lows. We, too, though, have the same kind of story. Successes and failure. 

We move on in Ephesians 6 to ask God to put on the gospel armor Paul describes in his epistle. We ask for strength and for God to protect us from evil, mainly our own weaknesses and temptations. We ask for God to guide us in "this world" and to keep us from being "of this world" while we live "in this world." We ask for God to help us be lights in a world of darkness.