Daily Devotion for April 28, 2006 - Lutheran Church Charities

Second Nature

 

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?     When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?     When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'     "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'    Matthew 25:37-40

 

When I was learning how to drive my father taught me on a tractor which had a manual transmission. I was scared because I thought I was going to blow the thing up by missing a shift, but I eventually learned how to drive the stick shift. My first car was also a stick shift, which I owned for about 3 years. Driving a stick shift had become second nature to me. Later, I bought a new car with an automatic transmission. When I tried to start it I would catch myself trying to depress the clutch. It took some time before I was able to break that habit.

 

Doing the will of God should be second nature to us. We should die to our old self and become a new creation in Jesus. As we mature in our faith the things we do for Christ come naturally. We become the instruments through which God works his will. In today's Scripture, those who were blessed by God did not realize that they were doing the Lord's work. Instead, it had become second nature to them. They did not think they had done anything, yet they were blessed by the Father and allowed to take their inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. It is not our will that is to be the driving force in our Christian lives, but instead it is God's will which is to be our agenda. We should give ourselves totally to God so that his work may be done through us.

 

Prayer
Heavenly Father we thank you for loving us so much. May the love that you have given us be the motivation for the things we do. May your will become second nature to us so that we automatically seek to do your will. In Jesus' name. Amen.

 

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Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
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