Blessed Is He

Matthew 21:8-9 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

I remember a time, a few years back, when I was providing technical support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The company I worked for at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) had a contract to provide assistance to state and local agencies in emergency planning around nuclear power plants.  I was introduced at a meeting as being with the Iowa National Laboratory. I came up with a witty reply about “Idaho is the other Iowa.” Who we represent is important as well as how we represent them.

Who we represent in our Christian walk is very important.  As we live our lives outside of the church we worship at every Sunday, we are constantly being judged.  Our actions, our life styles, our interactions with others, and our compassion are prominently on display. We live our lives under a microscope.  Some of those examining us will be looking for the negative. Others will be looking for the positive.  In each case they will leap to judge us and hold in esteem, or ridicule, the one we represent. That is of course Jesus.  If we profess to be dedicated followers of Jesus Christ, how can we justify living a life that stands in stark contrast to the life of Christ?  Therein lies the conundrum for Christians.  We know we are not saved by our actions. We know that we are not perfect. We know that we are saved by grace through faith. And yet, those on earth we are to minister to and guide to be disciples of Christ will hold us to a standard of perfection.  So, what are we to do?  We should accept grace, and keep trying to be better. We strive to be better for all the right reasons. We strive to love others because we were first loved by the Son of God. We strive to reach out to others because the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 calls us to that noble task. We do what we can, examining how we can do better, more effective, more capable. But we do these things with a profound sense of freedom because our salvation does not rest upon our efforts. But the salvation of those who do not know Christ may rest upon what we do. That is our inspiration. And our efforts are blessed when we come in the name of the Lord. The Lord is our guide, our inspiration, our strength and our refuge. We should not be disheartened, rather encouraged. So brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s go in peace and serve the Lord.

PRAYER:  Almighty God, we ask for you peace, and blessings today, and every day. As we go about our world serving You, we ask for Your guidance and blessings in all that we do. We ask that You would lead us where You know we need to go. We ask that our efforts would be fruitful. We also ask for Your peace that surpasses all understanding when we face difficulties. Strengthen us Dear Lord. This we ask in the name of Your Son, who with the Father and the Spirit are One God, now and forever. Amen.