I Do It Myself!

Considering Truths on Easter Sunday

Today's Scriptural Truths

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this--those He redeemed from the hand of the foe . . . Whoever is wise, let him heed these things & consider the great love of the Lord."  Psalm 107:1-2a, 43

"They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!' . . ."  Luke 24:2-6a

"'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The stone of death is sin, & the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."   1 Corinthians 15:55-56

Today's Devotional Thoughts, Helped Along by Some Scriptural Truths

"I do it myself!"

The words parents come to dread . . . The words the make grand-parents chuckle.

Remember the Terrible Twos? Personally, my wife & I came to believe in the Terrible Twos, but mostly as preparation for the Terrible Threes. C'mon, be honest. As our children "matured" into the Terrible Threes, they gave new meaning to words like "naughty."

Yes, if you are honest, you will admit that your children, like ours, were naughty, & your grand-children, like ours, albeit undeniably cute, intelligent. handsome, & beautiful, were & remain today . . . incorrigibly naughty.

If they didn't & don't make you a believer in original sin, well . . . why not? What's wrong with you?!

Much of what makes the Terrible Twos & Threes "terrible" is the emerging sense of independence . . . self-will . . . STRONG self-will . . . perhaps epitomized by the use of the word "NO!"

Come to Daddy.  "No." "Be quiet in church." No. "Time for bed." No.

And then the ultimate phrase of self-will & independence: "I do it myself!"

Let me help you with that glass. "I do it myself" [If you were lucky, what followed was the sound of a PLASTIC glass hitting the floor, followed by a mini-tsunami of--if you were lucky, water--not orange juice, splashing all over the--if you were lucky, the linoleum, not carpet.]

We might have laughed . . . the first time. We might have smiled the first time our wives told us the story . . . but we soon learned that it wasn't that funny, cleaning up the messes . . . and teaching our children that self-control was just as important as independence? Well, that was a chore, wasn't it . . . A chore that lasted into toddler-hood, pre-adolescence . . . adolescence [Did I mention ADOLESCENCE?] . . . & into adulthood.

Our own adulthood. And if we are honest with ourselves, some of us took longer to outgrow the Terrible Twos & Threes than others . . . Some [most?] of us still lapse into occasional bouts of Terrible T's, & then there are some [and, seriously, you are on my prayer list every day] may still find themselves in the Terrible Twos & Threes, spiritually speaking.

Because we constantly fight that battle, do we not? "I do it myself."

I prefer to go it my way rather than God's Way. My way looks more praiseworthy. My way looks more profitable. My way looks more self-satisfying.

And all along we were . . .we STILL are kidding ourselves.

• Born & baptized Lutheran . . . Literally growing up in the shadow of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Concordia, Missouri? . . . Not good enough.
• Attending Lutheran parochial school . . . Confirmed in the LCMS . . . Attending a Lutheran High School . . . Lutheran Junior College . . . Lutheran Senior College . . . Sorry, didn't cut it.
• Marrying a nice, Lutheran girl . . . Helping her raise three beautiful Lutheran kids & providing for their Christian education . . . Serving in Lutheran secondary education for almost 40 years . . . Writing devotionals for Orphan Grain Train & pretending to be a skilled devotional blogger on Facebook . . . well, I'll let you be the judge . . . I know the verdict.
• And then there is the unfortunate matter of my own self-righteousness . . . OUR OWN self-righteousness. In case I/you need a reminder, consider this:

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, & all our righteous acts are like filthy rags . . . "  Isaiah 64.6a

• All those years growing up in the shadow of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, growing up the son of Lutheran day school teachers & attending Lutheran schools . . . maybe, & I hesitate admitting it [except my siblings & classmates would convict me], more than once or twice, acting like a little jerk . . . You know, breaking one or two [or three or four] commandments every day . . . day after day . . . year after year . . . the commandments we tediously learned from our parents . . . learned from our teachers . . . learned in Sunday school & confirmation & religion classes.
• Failures as a husband . . . failures as a father . . . failures as a coach . . . as a teacher . . . as an administrators . . . failures that can still all too easily come back to haunt in the early morning hours . . . 
• Failures because . . . I do it myself! Yes, Lord, I know your promises but . . . but . . . I think maybe . . . just maybe . . . 

If I try a little harder . . . Learn a little more . . . Study the Bible a little harder . . . Become a better student . . . Better husband . . . Better father . . . Better teacher . . . Coach . . . Administrator . . . Win awards . . . Win respect . . . Win recognition . . . 

Maybe the more I DO IT MYSELF!

And thanks be to God for a Savior . . . for a God . . . who knew me . . . who knew YOU before the world began and declared:

I SHALL DO IT FOR YOU!

Did you get that? I'll repeat it just in case . . . 

I WILL . . . I SHALL DO IT FOR YOU!

Because you are a poor sinful being . . . conceived in sin . . . born into sin . . . living in sin . . . never truly knowing the fullness of holiness it would take to satisfy God's holiness & standards of justice . . . never fully capable of fulfilling the demands of God's standards of perfection . . . 

In fact, having no natural desire to let God into my life . . . into YOUR life, because . . . because . . . 

I DO IT MYSELF?

No, Paul . . . It's time to shut up . . . It's time to be still.

It's time to be quiet . . . It's time to be still.

He came to me at my baptism, & as the water poured down my head & the words were spoken, "I baptize you, Paul, in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit," He really did speak to me, you know . . . He really did speak to many of you, too, you know . . . 

Or maybe He spoke to you later in your life when you heard THE WORD or you read THE WORD . . . and He came to you . . . not in the thunder & lightning of Mt. Sinai, but in the quiet, peaceful words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . 

. . . Jesus, His Son, our brother, who came to us when we could not on our own come to Him, & whispered, "'Be still, & know that I am God'. . . " Psalm 46:10

Just a Few More Scriptural Truths

"To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, 'If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, & the truth will set you free.'"  John 8:31-32

"I am the Way, the Truth, & the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me."  John 14:6

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one & only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16

"The soul that sins, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:20

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you; it is in your mouth & in your heart,' that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:  That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' & believe in your heart that 'God raised Him from the dead,' you will be saved.'"  Romans 10:8-9

Some Closing Devotional Thoughts

Wow . . . If you hung in there this long, I salute you . . . I'm not sure I would have indulged myself . . . Here goes.

• Being Lutheran couldn't save me. He could save me. 
• I couldn't overcome my sinful, hateful, hurtful actions, no matter how hard I tried. He overcame them on the cross.
• I can never go back & make up for the harm I've done to others, to my Savior, 
• I don't have to . . . He's forgiven me. And I can pray that others will forgive me & I can forgive myself. Why?

The death we observed on Good Friday? His body isn't hanging on that cross anymore. Have you noticed? 
We can live as those who have been forgiven,
BECAUSE we are those who have been forgiven!

The empty grave we celebrated this morning? It's empty . . . 
Have you noticed? 

It's empty, empty, I tell you! 

And ours, too, will stand empty one day, as well. Because "I Did It Myself?" No.

HE DID IT HIMSELF!

He is risen . . . He is risen indeed . . . Alleluia.