Daily Dose of Good News for Friday, February 12

A Daily Dose of Good News

Friday, February 12, 2021 

Pastor Steve’s devotion is offered at https://youtu.be/dxqu6gpU7FE
A printer-friendly version of this devotion is available at DDGN 20210212
You came dialog with Pastor Steve on this devotion at steve.wachtman@me.com

 

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,  and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.  But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.  To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

I am giving you these instructions, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith; among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have turned over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Timothy 1:12-20)

 

Jiminy Cricket!

Today’s Daily Dose of Good News comes to you
Compliments of the Apostle Paul in his letter to one of his disciples Timothy
And the wisdom of Jiminy Cricket from the Disney movie Pinocchio.

Do you remember any of these lines:

“What is a conscience! I’ll tell ya! A conscience is that still small voice people won’t listen to. That’s just the trouble with the world today.”

“Always let your conscience be your guide.”

“Now Pinocchio needs me to guide him and be his conscience,
So maybe one day, he can be a real boy.”

And Paul seems to understand challenge have with keeping a clear conscience,
Along with its essential character of our faith:
“By rejecting conscience we shipwreck our faith.”

So Paul instead offers these words of encouragement
Which are often considered to be the theme verse for Timothy,
“Fight the good fight
Having faith and a good conscience.”
And according to the faith that springs from a clean conscience,
Real life is yours as well.

Thanks be of God that Christ Jesus our Lord has revealed the grace of mercy
By which our conscience may be cleansed again and again
So that real life in him might be restored again and again and again.  Amen

 

Daily Bible Reading
  • Acts 7:30-40 March 5, 2021

    30Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. 33Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.'

    35It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.' 38He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living oracles to give to us. 39Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, 'Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church