by Kathy Matuschka
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Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous (Psalm 112:4).
Read Psalm 112
All week we’ve been ruminating on the righteousness that is ours through Christ alone, and now we encounter a psalm that seems to suggest that ‘good things happen to good people’ – the law of karma. What do we make of this?
If we zoom out a little, we might notice that today’s psalm mirrors Psalm 111, which is about the grace and compassion of the Lord. Commentators suggest that the two psalms are intended to be read together. The two psalms begin by praising the grace and compassion of God and conclude by describing how walking in God’s light tends to affect a person.
Psalm 111 ends with the words: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom …’ Psalm 112 is not about justification, but about our sanctification. The way we see ourselves and the world changes as we seek God’s truth. As we seek God’s meaning in the ups and downs of life, we learn to notice how God is under, beside and within us in all things.
One of my favourite expressions is: ‘Experience is what you get just after you need it.’ None of us is born knowing how to negotiate the most challenging or complex issues that come our way. When Christians appear to be skilled at negotiating dark times and places, it is because they have learnt through experience that they are never alone. Having learnt that God is with us in the darkness, we have confidence to face the next challenge.
So when the psalmist says: ‘They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord’ (verse 7), they are not describing some super-believer who never fears or doubts, but someone who has learnt through being in God’s presence that with God, bad news is never the end of the story.
How have you experienced this truth in your life?
I praise you, Lord God! You are gracious and righteous, and you keep your promises. Blessed be your name forever and ever, Amen.
Kathy Matuschka works as a hospital chaplain and worships at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Brisbane. As parents of three adult children, Kathy and her husband Mark have been taking great delight lately in learning how to be grandparents.
by Kathy Matuschka
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace (Romans 11:5).
Read Romans 11:1–12
As a child, I first heard the word ‘remnant’ to describe leftover fabric. A remnant was a short piece of fabric left at the end of a roll or a section that had some sort of fault that prevented it from being sold at its regular price. Although not large enough to make a full project, it could be used in various ways. For example, one could use a remnant to add a frill to lengthen a favourite dress that had become too short. And, of course, an interesting piece of fabric can be used in a game of imagination – this never changes!
As a child, I loved looking through remnants for the most interesting fabrics and patterns. They were like buried treasure! But they were also accessible because I had enough money in my purse to buy a piece if I chose to.
Do you consider yourself (or your congregation) as a remnant in the way Paul describes believers in today’s text? And if so, how do you feel about this calling? Are you a leftover scrap that may never be noticed or used, or are you buried treasure? Perhaps your feelings about this calling vary!
When he wrote to the Romans, St Paul didn’t know what was to become of the Jewish remnant – the far-too-few Hebrew people who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. Today, too, we struggle to understand what God plans for the church. Like a short piece of fabric, we may not feel of much use.
But God’s word reminds us that we have been chosen by grace. To highlight what this means, Paul goes on to say: ‘And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace’ (verse 6). We land again on the centre of this beloved book: we are chosen by grace and remain citizens of God’s new kingdom by grace. It is not because of anything we may or may not be able to do, but by God’s mercy.
And mysteriously, it is only because of God’s grace that God chooses to establish and constantly renew the church.
Dear Jesus, sometimes I feel a bit scrappy and bewildered about how I came to be where I am. I wonder what I’m doing and how I might be of any use in your kingdom. Thank you for choosing me by grace. Help me to live each day in your love, Amen.
Kathy Matuschka works as a hospital chaplain and worships at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Brisbane. As parents of three adult children, Kathy and her husband Mark have been taking great delight lately in learning how to be grandparents.
by Kathy Matuschka
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world (Romans 10:18b).
Read Romans 10:14–21
Romans 10:18 (above) is a quotation from Psalm 19:4. While the psalmist was referring to the way the heavens bear witness to God’s greatness, Paul uses it to refer to the voices of the gospel preachers that have gone out into all the earth.
Previously, Paul lamented the way the Israelites rejected Jesus, but now he celebrates those who have heard and believed. Now the reading gets juicy: Paul hopes that the Jewish people might be stirred with envy about the blessings in Christ these new believers are receiving!
What about those of us who have traditionally carried the Christian faith, perhaps over many generations? The gospel message has truly gone to the ends of the world. It is now common for us to encounter Christians from non-western nations worshipping our Saviour Jesus Christ alongside us.
Having been born to missionary parents in Papua New Guinea (PNG), I love to hear Christians (often Lutherans) from PNG preach the gospel to me when I meet them through my hospital work! I am also humbled when people who have so much less materially than I am accustomed to having share their conviction that God will provide for their every need. I am inspired by the stories of LCANZ members continuing to teach and serve wherever they know faith is ready to be fanned into a flame, whether in Australia, New Zealand or beyond our shores. By God’s Spirit, the gospel has gone out and continues to go out to the ends of the earth.
Do you sometimes envy the faith of those whom the gospel has reached in more recent times? Or perhaps you are a newer believer, and you wonder why Christians who grow up in the west do not treasure Jesus more and why their faith is not more vibrant? Today’s reading tells us that the bearers of the good news have beautiful feet (verse 15b). That sounds like a good remedy for envy!
Loving God, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! By your Holy Spirit, please fill me with envious hunger for a deeper understanding of you and your ways. Please give me the grace to listen to and learn from those you call to speak. May my feet carry your good news to the places you call me to be. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Kathy Matuschka works as a hospital chaplain and worships at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Brisbane. As parents of three adult children, Kathy and her husband Mark have been taking great delight lately in learning how to be grandparents.
by Kathy Matuschka
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).
Read Romans 10:1–13
The Christian church in Rome likely consisted of both Gentile and Jewish converts to Christianity. This may not strike us as remarkable, but in the first century, it was unprecedented that Jews and Gentiles might share a common faith, on equal footing with one another! Paul exhorts the congregation to grow in unity with the following words: ‘For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him’ (verse 12).
There is no difference. Verse nine above is addressed to all readers, regardless of their backgrounds. Paul explains that no matter where you have come from, you are set free – you are right with God – through faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection for your sins. Paul says that ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ (verse 13).
As today’s reading began, Paul prayed that the Jewish people might submit to the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be saved, instead of seeking to ‘establish their own righteousness’ (verses 1–3).
How about us? How do we seek to establish our own righteousness? Do we add conditions that allow us to categorise our fellow Christians into different levels of faithfulness? Of course we do!
There is no limit to the ways we as humans can foster discord and division within the body of Christ when we add our preferred conditions to the gospel. St Paul knows this from his own experience. In the first case, he failed to recognise Jesus as Lord, and then he grappled with the idea that Gentiles as well as Jews might be chosen. That’s why he returns repeatedly to the centre: ‘For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Triune God, thank you for the gift of faith in Jesus. Please forgive me for the ways I seek to establish my own righteousness by adding conditions to your gift of salvation. Please help me to see and honour my fellow Christians just like you do. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.
Kathy Matuschka works as a hospital chaplain and worships at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Brisbane. As parents of three adult children, Kathy and her husband Mark have been taking great delight lately in learning how to be grandparents.
by Kathy Matuschka
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
… See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame (Romans 9:33).
Read Romans 9:19–33
St Paul knows what it is like to stumble: to trip over his best intentions in his pursuit of righteousness before God by following the law. In today’s reading, he continues to process his bewilderment about how God’s plan of salvation has played out, citing Hebrew Scriptures to help him make sense of what he has heard and experienced.
He even goes as far as to wonder if it was all a setup. Maybe God didn’t really love the Hebrew people, but used them to demonstrate how not to become right with God! Was this a case of Paul using irony – or maybe spitballing a little – as he grappled with how to understand and describe the new things God was doing in the world?
Paul knows what it is like to stumble on the rock of Jesus, because he has stumbled himself. He now understands to the depth of his being that his only hope of being right with God is to trust in Jesus’ work, not his own, and he keeps returning to this central theme.
What are some of the ways we as Christians stumble over Jesus today? One stumbling block is pride. We can become so delighted in the ways we can use our God-given gifts in God’s service that pride sneaks in and takes a lead role.
At other times, we trip and stumble because we are too focused on things that are not mission-critical. They might be important and worthwhile things, but they are not central.
Just as St Paul did, we can become our own worst enemies as we serve God. Sometimes we, too, need to be confronted by a ‘stumbling stone’ in a dramatic way before we realise that we have been making it all about us and our perspectives.
Dear Lord Jesus, you have rescued me from places of darkness into your glorious light. In your great mercy, you keep catching and restoring me when I stumble and fall. By your Holy Spirit, fill me with trust in your salvation and the grace to reflect your light into the dark places around me. Amen.
Kathy Matuschka works as a hospital chaplain and worships at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Brisbane. As parents of three adult children, Kathy and her husband Mark have been taking great delight lately in learning how to be grandparents.
by Kathy Matuschka
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
… it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring (Romans 9:8).
Read Romans 9:1–18
I love reading narratives (including biblical narratives) because I love to picture the people and the places of the story in my mind. In contrast, I find it difficult to connect with the Book of Romans. Described by some commentators as part letter, part treatise, it seems to be full of reasons and rationales, with many words and long sentences.
But not far beneath the surface, there is still a story – an amazing story! Saul of Tarsus had been pursuing God’s righteousness fastidiously, following the Jewish laws and rituals and protecting the faith from impurity and threats as he waited for the promised Messiah.
Suddenly and dramatically, his life and assumptions were changed when he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Saul, persecutor of Christians, was transformed into Paul, follower of Jesus and apostle to the Gentiles.
In previous weeks, our devotion writers have been unpacking the chapters of Romans that have been termed ‘the heart of Christianity’. Now, in our readings this week, Paul grapples with what the arrival of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, means for himself and both Jews and Gentiles. A new aeon has dawned; unprecedented things are happening, and it is a lot to process!
Paul processes the implications of what has been revealed to him. He expresses both amazement that the Gentiles are included in the promise first given to Abraham and grief that, at the very moment the promise was fulfilled, so many Jews chose to reject the Messiah. It’s a plot twist, all right!
The Christian church in the western world has been the major keeper and teacher of the Christian faith for centuries. But are you noticing some plot twists today? Are you amazed at how God’s Spirit is leading people from all over the world to Christian faith in our day? Do you grieve that many western Christians no longer connect with a local congregation, and some have even rejected Jesus Christ?
Loving God, your mercy never fails to amaze and delight us, but we are a fickle lot. As a church, we are sorry for all the ways we have distorted the freedom you won for us, leading many to reject you. Please forgive us and restore us, so we can be part of the new things you are doing. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
Kathy Matuschka works as a hospital chaplain and worships at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Brisbane. As parents of three adult children, Kathy and her husband Mark have been taking great delight lately in learning how to be grandparents.
by Kathy Matuschka
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God (Luke 13:13).
Read Luke 13:10–17
Something new is happening … Jesus heals a woman who has been bent for more than 18 years due to a spinal condition. Jesus places his hands on her and says in verse 12, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity’. Immediately, she stands up, feeling so fantastic that she can’t help praising God.
For most of my adult life, I have been a physiotherapist working in hospital settings. Would you like to hear my professional observations as I work through this story?
First, I thought about the woman’s spinal deformity. There was probably an initial cause of her back pain, but then over time, other parts of the woman’s spine became stiff and fixed. She is likely to have developed a ‘bony fusion’. In other words, her spine likely was to have been permanently stuck in a bent-over position.
Then, I considered that as the woman spent her time bent forward, the ligaments and muscles in the front of her body would have become tight and shortened. This would have been a secondary reason for her inability to stand straight. She would have lacked sufficient flexibility in her soft tissues to stand up straight.
Finally, as she spent 18 years in this position, her balance muscles would have wasted away. If I were an observer, I would be expecting the woman to topple over the moment she stood up straight!
A fused spine, weakened muscles, a loss of balance. ‘Woman, you are set free.’ Something unprecedented has happened. Jesus mends everything that is broken and dysfunctional by a word and a touch … as a sign that God is breaking through to establish a new aeon – the one in which we live!
Dear Jesus, some days the complexities of life on this earth overwhelm me. But then I recall how you broke into human history to set us free. And you left your Spirit to keep setting us free from our broken condition every day. We give you all our praise and thanks, Amen.
by Mark Gierus
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The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (Psalm 103:8).
Read Psalm 103:1–8
Do you ever get frustrated with others around you because they seem to do the same thing that irritates you or lets you down? Do you have those friends who always cancel a catch-up at the last minute? Does that make you angry because it happens so much? Do you have children who continue making the same mistakes over and over again, and no matter how much you try to change them, it happens again?
Wouldn’t it be terrible if God had a human heart? Would he become irritated when we continue to sin in the same way repeatedly? Or perhaps he would get frustrated or become angry because we are not doing any better in trying to live a perfect life.
What a blessing for us that God doesn’t have a human heart, but rather a heart for humans! In this psalm, King David shares God’s heart with us. The Lord gets it, and he gets us in our human flesh and the sin that we so often fall into. The Lord is slow to anger in our failing, and when we sin, the Lord is compassionate and gracious toward us. He abounds in love, loving us so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, to suffer and die for our sins.
God loves us no matter what we do or what we have done in the past. He will continue to love us tomorrow and always because he is abounding in love. God loves us, demonstrating his amazing love on the cross where his only Son died for us, and fills us with his love to overflowing.
Your cup of life is filled with the blessings God’s gives you day by day to overflowing, so that when you face your frustrating challenges of daily life or you find yourself becoming angry over circumstances or people, it is God’s amazing grace and love that will lead you into actions of love, compassion and kindness toward others. And this is all because God loves you first.
O Lord, thank you for your great patience with me every day. Instead of judging my failings, you choose to show me compassion. Guide me, Lord, day by day in your grace and love, so that I live as one whose cup is overflowing with your love, which I can show to others. Help me to be slow to anger with others, just as you are patient with me. Amen.
Pastor Mark Gierus serves as a Lutheran pastor in Alberton, Woongoolba and LORDS (Lutheran school) in Queensland. He has three beautiful girls aged 9, 12 and 22. He enjoys visiting the beach, singing and jamming, caring for their pets as a family, going on road trips and seeing people share the love of Jesus with one another. Mark prays that God will continue to bless you as you grow in him and come to know him more and more through his life-giving eternal word.
by Mark Gierus
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)
Read Romans 8:31–39
Have you ever felt like you are just fighting your own battle? It might be against workplace politics, or it might be in seeking a life partner. It might be the fight to make ends meet when you want to save up a little money for a break or holiday from the full-on, busy life you are living at the moment.
Maybe it is your struggle with your body image or what you think of yourself in general. You might not feel that you have any worth in your season of life. You may have come through a really challenging time, and are just trying to find who you are again and what you can do in your new chapter of life. You might feel alone and fighting against that loneliness.
When did you last think of who is on your side in this fight?
We sometimes get into a pattern of living in which we can’t see that anything will change, or we may just accept that there is no-one on our side, yet God is.
The word of the Lord today asks that simple question, ‘If God is for us (for you), then who or what can ever be against us?’
God made you in his image and loves you. He cares; he hurts when you hurt. He knows when you feel alone, scared, tired and just ready to give up. In all this, he says. ‘I am for you. I am on your side.’
He is on your side this much. He sent Jesus, his only Son, to suffer and die for you and to forgive your sins so that you could be whole again. You are a new creation. You have eternal life – life now that is full of joy, peace, hope and love in Jesus and life forever. You are saved, and God is for you. So, then who can ever be against you, as you are his child?
Lord, you are on our side. Help me to stop worrying about the things I cannot control or change, and know that no-one can be against us as we live in your name. Give us deep peace, knowing you love us and are always there protecting us and fighting for us. Amen.
Pastor Mark Gierus serves as a Lutheran pastor in Alberton, Woongoolba and LORDS (Lutheran school) in Queensland. He has three beautiful girls aged 9, 12 and 22. He enjoys visiting the beach, singing and jamming, caring for their pets as a family, going on road trips and seeing people share the love of Jesus with one another. Mark prays that God will continue to bless you as you grow in him and come to know him more and more through his life-giving eternal word.