by Charles Bertelsmeier
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Read Ecclesiastes 1:1–11
Although I can remember the names and a little about the lives of my grandparents, I would struggle to tell you the names of all my great-grandparents or anything about their lives.
Then I think about my grandchildren and realise they know virtually nothing about my parents and previous generations. I’m sure we could all agree with the sentiment expressed in today’s verse.
We will spend today and the next four days looking at the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Before you open your calendar app and set a reminder to resume reading LCA devotions next Saturday and skip these five days, let me encourage you to persevere. God has put every book of the Bible there for a reason and has a message for us. I pray that God has a message for you in what he gives me to write. You may also like to read the whole book before we proceed with these devotions.
The first verse of this book indicates that the author is King Solomon. God blessed King Solomon to be one of the wisest people in history. He is also believed to be the author of the biblical book Song of Songs and to have collected many proverbs.
In Ecclesiastes, the author conducts a series of scientific experiments to find the meaning of life. In reflecting on this, I think we are all doing the same, but probably not as scientifically as Solomon. As young children, we are absorbed in play. As teenagers, we are trying to discover who we are. As young adults, we seek acceptance through our friendship circles and employment. Then, we aim to perpetuate our identity through our children, moving on to get ourselves financially secure and finally retiring to contemplate what we have achieved with our lives. Maybe we will even write up our life stories to perpetuate our legacies.
Solomon tries a range of activities to find meaning and fulfilment but comes up empty each time. Most of these things are things we also do to try to discover meaning and purpose. Spoiler alert: The conclusion Solomon comes to is that we only find that meaning and purpose through our relationship with God and by surrendering our lives to the plans he has for us.
Most of us, me included, didn’t want to hear that when we were younger and tried looking elsewhere. I thank God he didn’t give up on me and gently led me to accept Solomon’s conclusion.
Heavenly Father, I accept that life without you is meaningless. Please help me to listen to your Spirit as we dive into the Book of Ecclesiastes and to find meaning and purpose in your plans for us. Amen.
Charles is a retired engineer who has worked on communications projects for the air force, army and navy. He lives in a retirement village in the outer north-western suburbs of Sydney with his wife, Diane. Together, they have four children and eight grandchildren, all of whom they love spending time with. Charles keeps busy caring for their pot plants and a community vegetable garden, researching his family history and volunteering at LifeWay Lutheran Church.
Gotta serve somebody
by Dianne Eckermann
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15b).
Read Joshua 24:1,2a,14–18
In the late 1970s, Bob Dylan wrote a folk song titled ‘Gotta serve somebody’, to which John Lennon cynically responded with a song called ‘Serve yourself’.
Dylan lists all sorts of people: an ambassador, a gambler, a dancer, a boxer, a socialite. No matter who you were, he says, you gotta serve somebody. Dylan offers a simple choice to either serve the devil or the Lord. He also subtly suggests we need to take care who we choose to serve; will it be somebody or something? If we don’t choose well, we may end up serving money, fame, power or influence.
John Lennon, on the other hand, comments that no one is going to do it for you, so you have to serve yourself. These two songs come from opposing points of view and have different understandings of what it means to serve.
Like today’s reading from Joshua, Dylan uses service in a broad sense. In the reading from Joshua, the children of Israel are reminded how God has taken them from a distant land where their ancestors served other gods and has given them a new land. This reminder, Joshua suggests, is the very reason he will serve the Lord. His concept of service includes following the Lord, trusting in the Lord and serving out of gratitude.
John Lennon’s idea of service is all about self. It is appealing in a culture in which the individual is more important than the community, but it’s not really about service; it’s about getting what you want for yourself.
Joshua’s words, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’, are about commitment. This passage is often used as a wedding text as a new couple commit themselves to each other and to the Lord as a new household.
In Joshua’s time, God has freed Israel from forced service to the Pharaoh. In response, Joshua is committing to the Lord, willing to lead his life trusting that God, who provided a new land, will continue to provide for those who serve him.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of family. Help us to remain committed to you as we serve you by following your wishes and honouring you for all you have provided for us. Amen.
Dianne has served in Lutheran education as a teacher, school leader and system leader at Lutheran Education Australia. Now retired from full-time work, she continues to volunteer on several committees and as a school board member. She lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband, Robert, and is in strong demand as a babysitter for her three grandchildren.
Who is the Son of Man?
by Dianne Eckermann
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets’ (Matthew 16:13b,14).
Read Matthew 16:13–20
The location of today’s reading, Caesarea Philippi, a city named in part in honour of Caesar Augustus, who was deified by his subjects, may highlight how humans like to be glorified in contrast to Jesus’ humility.
Unlike Caesar, Jesus did not proclaim his own divinity. Instead, he asked, ‘Who do people say I am?’ This is the first of two questions Jesus asks of his disciples. In effect, he is using them as his social media advisors to discover what is being said about him in this city founded on a Greek site dedicated to Pan and named after the Roman emperor. In their travels with Jesus, the disciples have heard speculation about him: references to John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or other prophets. They recognise something unique about Jesus.
Here, in this culturally mixed city, with an equally diverse range of religious beliefs, Jesus asks his second question: ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter’s response is immediate. He sees the Messiah, Jesus, in what Jesus has said and done. He has heard the speculation but boldly declares, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
With more than two thousand years of Christian understanding, we may feel that Peter is stating the obvious. However, Peter is at the very beginning of this tradition. He is a Jewish man living under Roman oppression, but despite this, he knows what he has seen and heard. He is yet to discover what it means to be the Messiah. Peter has not yet experienced the death and resurrection of Jesus, but has closely observed Jesus, his teachings and his miracles, and knows Jesus well. Peter knows Jesus because he has seen his power at work in the world.
As modern-day followers of Jesus, we understand his work because we know who he is. In a precarious and unpredictable world where warfare, disruption and division emerge almost daily, we may wonder where Jesus is at work. He is there with the peacemakers, with those who support others most in need of comfort, following in his footsteps. Knowing who Jesus is, we can joyfully join Peter and proclaim Jesus as the Son of the living God.
Dear Jesus, help us to follow in your footsteps and recognise you in our lives. Guide us as we support those most in need of your comfort and care, and help us always to know you through your work in our world. Amen.
Dianne has served in Lutheran education as a teacher, school leader and system leader at Lutheran Education Australia. Now retired from full-time work, she continues to volunteer on several committees and as a school board member. She lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband, Robert, and is in strong demand as a babysitter for her three grandchildren.
The Creator cares about me?
by Stuart Gray
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life (Psalm 138:6,7).
Read Psalm 138
The theme of this week’s devotions is that God is the God of all peoples, not just Israel.
There is an encounter Jesus had with a Canaanite woman (an outsider), and the prophecy in Isaiah of the creation of new heavens and a new earth where people of all nations worship God. Then there was the struggle the Jews had in accepting that Christ died for all, and the passage from 1 Timothy saying that it is through Christ that God connects to all people. Then we had a vision of what reconciliation between God and humankind will be like.
In keeping with this theme, Psalm 138 also references that God is the God of all. ‘May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord, when they hear what you have decreed.’
But the verse that really caught my attention is something I have pondered many times. ‘Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly.’
In Psalm 8, the contrast is made greater. ‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?’ (Psalm 8:3,4).
The Creator of the universe cares about me? While it might seem arrogant to believe that God pays attention to me, I approach this with humility.
And the psalmist expresses faith in God’s care. ‘Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me’ (Psalm 138:7).
We are not promised a stress- or trouble-free life. But we are promised that God is with us.
So how can we believe this? It is because God has kept his promises by sending his Son to die for us so that we might live, for and with God.
God is the God of all peoples, and that includes me. Only with humility can I thank and praise God.
And humility opens the heart to grace.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for caring for us and looking kindly on us through all the ups and downs of life. We thank you for reconciling us through your Son, who sacrificed his life so that we might live. We pray that we can approach you with both confidence and humility. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Stuart lives with his wife Pamela Dalgliesh in Mansfield, in the beautiful High Country of Victoria. In between helping to maintain a large garden and domestic orchard with 80 fruit trees, Stuart is a volunteer mentor for learner drivers, a Red Cross patient transport driver and is involved in a very active Mansfield Anglican church community. Stuart loves travelling, being outdoors and maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle.