Our Pursuit of His Presence    😊

   We were happy to see that as of this morning, 59 people had read about "fugitive" Martin Luther's historic translation of the New Testament for the benefit of common Germans. We hope it was more than our photo of Wartburg Castle that hooked you. 

   It's worth repeating Luther: "...faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace...so certain that a believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. (It) makes men glad and bold and happy...without compulsion ready and glad to do good...to serve...to suffer...out of love and praise to God."

   That is the essence of this series of blogs. Personally we need to allow God to gift us with even more victorious faith, and we hope many of you desire that as well. 

   David described his rescue from death in 2 Samuel 22: Out of the brightness of his presence, bolts of lightning blazed forth. (Maybe we can get by without the bolts.)

   After meeting Jesus by the Spirit, Paul himself expressed a burning desire after Christ.

   For Luther, burning might have been physical. He returned home in 1521, leaving his fate in God's hands. The pope died the same year. The (Spanish) emperor would be distracted by his wars with France and Italy, and the Muslim threat from Turkey, for the rest of the decade. Unwittingly, his edict of death resulted in several months of a "castle vacation" for Luther, who used it to translate the NT.

   Young readers: Live each day for its own sake. 

But, you can look forward to aging, if God wills, 

 when the pursuit of many interests isn't so satisfying...

 when human-based religious habits aren't so fulfilling...

 when you know you can't take it with you...

 and when all you need is God himself.