I saw the following saying on bumper sticker today like the one below while out for a walk in Lexington:
I think this is counsel that Luther could have said. From Luther’s second Sermon at the parish church, afternoon, 1531, New Year’s Day, text: the appointed Gospel: St. Luke 2: 21:
“…go ahead with your “Jesus” and see where you come out. The point is, that what I think and sketch, that cannot be named Jesus; only the child Himself can be called that. Popes, cardinals, bishops, and the wiseacres of the world think that what they conceive and sketch should be called Jesus. But they miss the mark completely. I confess that I myself, too, in times past wanted to engage my God in calculations, saying, Lord God, I have preached so and so, have done this and that, and now you must let me have my reward. Were I to follow my thoughts in this way, I would eventually conclude that my preaching, teaching and doing were my Jesus. God keep me from that!”
From Luther’s First Sermon, Epiphany, at the Parish Church , 1532. The text is St. Matthew 2: 1-12. Luther is wonderfully astonished that the only way the wise men could find the Child was finally not by the star but by the written Word of God, the Bible:
“This is a key element especially to the devil, as he seeks ways to tear us away from the Word, and then apart from the Word, leads us to think our own thoughts. For then he knows he has won and we have lost.”
Indeed! Don’t believe everything you think especially when you know you are forgiven. Why? Because we’re sinners! Trust His Word in spite of what “leading theologians” have opined, including my own head! We too have a star to guide us: the Bible. His Word will lead us to place that I would never expect to find God, because when I determine where I will meet God it will always be a divine double of myself (insight courtesy of Pr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer). He has met us all on the least of all places: the Cross.
The perfect cognitive behavioral therapy bumper sticker, too.
LikeLike
Excellent post!
Sue J
(Reblogged to Compendium of Christian Blogs
http://www.compendum.wordpress.com)
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Compendium of Christian Blogs.
LikeLike