daily devo: "THIS IS GOD’S DAY"
Rev. Reuben K. Youngdahl, grandfather to Eric Youngdahl and Senior Pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church from 1938-1968, was widely known and respected for his pastoral leadership and his uplifting messages of God's love. These messages were published into devotional books so that people might find hope in the promises found in Jesus Christ.
One of his many books was titled, "Going God’s Way.” Pastor Youngdahl issues the challenge for people to go ahead and live today in the faithfulness of God. In his words: “Live each day by itself. Begin and end each one in communion with God. Life’s meaning will be made clear, and its challenge will summon you to follow the way of the Lord, and claim the triumphant life He is able to give you.”
August 26
Your Life Is a Lantern
“God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may see the light of life.” -Job 33:29-30
Before we can become the kind of witness God can use, we must be willing to pray the prayer to the Psalmist: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Otherwise our light will not shine.
A clever minister once took an old-dirt-smeared lantern to church and put it in front of the pulpit. Some of the audience laughed when they saw it, wondering why it was hanging there. In the course of the sermon the minister asked his congregation what good the lamp was in such condition. They replied that it was good for nothing. When he asked them what was the matter, they promptly answered that the lantern needed to be cleaned and to have a new light put in it. The minister then reminded them that the lantern could not clean itself or put in another light. He compared the dirt-blackened lantern to a man with a sin-smeared life, a man who was a useless good-for-nothin. If ever he would allow God to cleanse him from sin, to direct him, to light within his heart the lamp of love, this same individual could serve God and his fellow men.
Though our talents may differ, we can all serve God. Our heavenly Father does not expect us to show forth any more light than He has given. But we each possess a certain amount of candle power, and if we allow God to keep our lanterns lighted and to redeem our living, the darkness of the world will vanish.
How is the lantern of your life? A motorist was struck by a train at a grade crossing. The gate tender who was supposed to give the warning signal was subpoenaed to appear in court. During the long trial he testified repeatedly that he had frantically waved his lantern but with no result.
“I was afraid at first that your testimony wouldn’t jibe and hold up,” his superintendent said the following day, as he congratulated him for winning the case for the Railroad.
“Boy, was I afraid that the lawyer would ask if my lantern was lit!” replied the signal man. He escaped because the key question was unasked; but we cannot escape God’s question, “Did you allow Me to keep your lantern aglow?”
TODAY’S THOUGHT: How many of those who fall on life’s battlefield are wounded running away from their problems?
