Home > Reading > NALC Devotion – January 22, 2017

john5-14

Isaiah 47:1-15; Hebrews 10:19-31; John 5:2-18

“Do you want to be healed?” It seems like such a simple question. Surely the answer is meant to be a simple one as well. But this interaction between Jesus and the sick man shows us a truth we often do not want to acknowledge. Sin is an infection, a corruption in our lives. Living with Sin affects the shape and quality of our lives every day. Like the sick man, we know that we are not as we could be. Like the sick man, we’ve grown accustomed to it. And if we, like the sick man, are given the opportunity to make the choice—from our own sinful will—to be saved, we cannot do it. In our lives of sin, we are like the sick man, who when asked if he wants to be made well, offers up reasons why he hasn’t been made so already. But “yes” is far from his lips. And our Saviour knows this about us. Sinners cannot choose to save themselves, but through baptism the God of all Creation can restore us to Himself nonetheless. That is the claim Christ has made on each of us: when we say “no,” he says “yes.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, we give thanks that your grace and mercy are so far beyond what we sinners could ever ask for. Amen.

Today’s devotion was written by Hans Tolpingrud, a Candidate for Ordination in the NALC, currently completing his vicarage at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Yorktown, TX. 

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