Devotion

Trust for a Good Night’s Sleep...and the New Year

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence tells Romeo:

Care keeps his watch in every old man’s eye, and where care lodges, sleep will never lie.

But where unbruisèd youth with unstuffed brain doth couch his lips, there golden sleep doth reign.

(Act II, Scene 3)

When cares and worries fill our minds, sleep does come hard and when it comes it is often restless. The hymn writer, Thomas Ken, must have had this in mind when he wrote the prayer:

When in the night, I sleepless lie, my soul with heavenly thoughts supply…

(TLH 558:5)

We might wistfully look at a young child sleeping without a worry and wish for similar rest. The peaceful, carefree sleep of a child comes from the simple trust that rests in the strength, wisdom, and love of the one watching over him. Why should a child be worried, afraid, and sleepless when Mom and Dad are in the next room? All care is cast on them and so sleep comes.

As adults, we sometimes believe and act as if the weight of the world’s cares rest on our shoulders. While there are adult responsibilities, "where care lodges, sleep will never lie." For this reason, Peter tells us"

[Cast] all your cares on [God] because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Just as cares and worries about the future may chase away sleep, they can also lead to unsettled hearts as we enter a new year.

We could enter the new year with hesitation and fear, but with cares cast upon our Lord we can boldly stride into the new days with confidence! We could enter the new year with little energy and slogging steps of dull routine, but with the Lord’s mercies new every morning (cf. Lamentations 3:22-23) we can leap into the new year with excited anticipation of what mercies and blessings our gracious Lord has in store for us!

Trust resting in the grace and greatness of our God leads to good rest and a good year. "Lord, in Your grace, grant us both!"

In You, O Lord, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame…For You are my hope, O Lord, God; You are my trust from my youth. By You I have been upheld from birth…My praise shall be continually of You.

(Psalm 71:1,5-6)

—WCE

Church Library

Start the New Year Right

The beginning of a new calendar year is a great time to begin, restart, or continue family devotions. A family might include several parts in its devotion time—a devotion that includes the whole family, a devotion or application that is directed to children of a specific age, and parents may have their own personal devotion time and/or as a couple.

Time spent with God’s Word as a family is a blessing to everyone's faith, love for one another, and the overall strength of the family.

Families’ devotions will vary but there are two things common and important to every family: 1) that the devotions are scriptural and 2) that you have them!

If you are looking for material to use in your family devotion time, the Church Library can assist you. The following is a list of devotion titles and call numbers for devotional books in our church library. An * indicates a book that has a devotion for each day of the year. Children’s devotion books are in the 242.7 section.

Another devotional option is daily readings. If you’d like a guide for this, Daily Bible Reading Calendars are available for purchase ($2.75). A sample and purchase information are in the church narthex, or contact the church office.

Devotion Books in the Church Library

From the Pastor's Desk

Sins in the Area of Church Offerings

The following observations are an adaptation of a list that crossed my desk recently. While I am uncertain of its source, I hope that as we begin a new calendar and budget year at Immanuel, it will spur some thinking and discussion. As you read through the following points, be careful to note how both the congregation and the individual member must be careful not to lose balance and go to an extreme position on either side, but rather listen closely to all of God's Word.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting

Sins in the Area of Congregational Finances

1. Making it a law to tithe—to give 10% of your income to the Lord. While the believers of the Old Testament were commanded to give a tithe to the Lord, New Testament believers are given no such command. Rather, New Testament believers are simply encouraged to give cheerfully and generously in view of God’s great love for them (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:5-7).

2. Failing to support the work of mission outreach. While it is important that we serve the spiritual needs of our members, let us remember that our primary calling as Christians is to fulfill God’s commission to “make disciples of all nations” (cf. Matthew 28:19). This we are to do locally, but also nationally and internationally (through our synodical mission programs) out of love for lost souls everywhere!

3. Prodding members to compete with one another. Our gifts to the Lord should never be a matter of competition, but rather are to be the joyous response of our individual hearts to the Lord’s blessings (cf. Luke 19:8, 2 Corinthians 8:9).

4. Enticing contributions from people in wrong ways and for wrong reasons. The reason we make contributions to the work of the church is the love of Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14). It is dangerous for congregations to support their ministries with the profits made through bingo, raffles, and bake sales because such ventures can so easily confuse the desire to give and the desire to gain.

5. Making the use of the Means of Grace (i.e., the Gospel) dependent upon contributions. The church should never do anything to suggest that God’s gift of forgiveness or the blessings of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are available only to those who contribute, while unavailable to those who do not (cf. Acts 8:20; Ephesians 2:8-9).

6. Embarrassing members into contribution. Each believer is to honor the Lord with “the first-fruits” of his income and to give “as he purposes in his heart” (cf. Proverbs 3:9, 2 Corinthians 9:7). God-pleasing giving does not occur because the church, or someone at church, has suggested someone ought to really give more to church in view of the type of car they drive or the home in which they live.

7. Neglecting to preach the scriptural principles of giving. God has much to say about Christian stewardship, including church offerings. To neglect preaching on this topic is to fail to preach the “whole counsel of God” and thereby to dishonor God and do a disservice to His people (cf. Acts 20:27).

Sins in the Area of Personal Finances

1. Using the freedom from tithing as an excuse to cut back to a low percentage. The Lord urges us to give generously, trusting that God will provide for our every need (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:8-9), while warning us that those who “sow sparingly” will also “reap sparingly” (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:6).

2. Failing to put our gifts to God at the top of our home budgets. We are to love God above all things (cf. Matthew 22:37) and giving the “first-fruits” of our incomes implies by its very nature that our gifts to God take the highest priority in our budgets (cf. Proverbs 3:9).

3. Contributing but not with a cheerful heart out of love for God. Giving offerings to the church is both a privilege and an opportunity. Therefore, God says we should never give with “grudging obligation,” but rather with a “cheerful” spirit (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:5, 7).

4. Contributing to the church to receive praise of men. Jesus warns us not to do our “charitable deeds” simply to be seen by men. Such people may be rewarded with the praises of men, but their actions are displeasing to God and will never be rewarded by God (cf. Matthew 6:1).

5. Spending more on pleasure than on the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and then He promises that our heavenly Father will give us everything we need (cf. Matthew 6:33). He urges us to be good and faithful stewards of that which God has entrusted to us (cf. Matthew 25:14ff.). To spend more on personal pleasure than on the support of the Gospel ministry surely falls short of Jesus’ expectation and exhortation.

6. Letting other members carry the load. Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Those desiring to follow Jesus will not want to sit back while others carry the financial load of the kingdom work, but rather they will want to join their fellow believers and rejoice in what together they are privileged to do.