Devotion for Wednesday After the Second Sunday of Advent, Year A (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Trimming Olive Trees in Palestine, Between 1934 and 1939

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-16614

Grace, Free Will, and Fruits

DECEMBER 7, 2022

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The Collect:

Stir up your power, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son.

By his coming nurture our growth as people of repentance and peace;

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 18

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The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 15:1-18

Psalm 21

Matthew 12:33-37

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Be exalted, O LORD, in your might;

we will sing and praise your power.

–Psalm 21:14, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Today’s readings are about fruits–descendants (in the case of Abram/Abraham) and deeds and words (in the case of Matthew 12).  Abram/Abraham had free will, as does each of us, O reader.  God is mighty, but we are not cosmic puppets, so we can choose to cooperate with God or to do otherwise.  Our deeds reveal our creeds, for such as we think, we are.  So, if we suffer, may we do so for the sake of righteousness, not sin.

I examine my spiritual history and conclude that my part is mixed.  Sometimes, however, I have thought mistakenly that I was doing that.  And, on other occasions, I have not even tried.  But I have returned to God again and again, trusting in love which covers a multitude of sins and has only one unpardonable sin.  To the best of my knowledge, I have not committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for my conscience seems to have been intact for as long as I remember.  And I can distinguish between good and evil.

We should, of course, know that our families, subcultures, cultures, friends, and societies influence our views of right and wrong.  Sometimes they err.  To some extent each of us is wrong–sinful.  But God knows that about us–that we are but dust.  I think that the mere effort to do the righteous thing pleases God, by grace.  At least I hope so.  But I depend on grace to lead to positive spiritual results for communities, cultures, subcultures, societies, families, individuals, et cetera.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 26, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JEREMIAH, BIBLICAL PROPHET

THE FEAST OF ISABEL FLORENCE HAPGOOD, ECUMENIST

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/grace-free-will-and-fruits/

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