God gives, and we are given to. We are born into this world, and we take nothing with us when we leave, or when the Lord should return to gather us, whichever comes first (and both will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might imagine). Everything we have is a gift given to us. In our daily lives we can trace all that we have, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, etc., back to God as the gift giver.
When it comes to our faith and especially when it comes to giving an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus as our Savior, these words of witness are also a gift from God. However, in order for God to give us the words to speak, He must give us those words and faith through His Word and Sacraments.
The importance of Divine Service worship attendance is to be given the gifts of God, to be filled with His Word and faith so that He has His Word to speak through us, at just the right time.
Thus, we make regular (every time it is offered) and diligent (as often as we can) use of the means of grace. Indeed, the desire of one having faith is to be when and where the gifts of God are given out and they are given out most assuredly in the Divine Service. At the same time we also take advantage of personal and family devotions as well as personal reading of God’s Word, Bible Class, Sunday School and the like. It is through these opportunities that God uses the means He has given to deliver His gifts to us, the means of His Word, Confession and Absolution, Holy Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.
Just as we daily eat our meals in order to nourish and sustain our bodies, so too we daily eat our spiritual food in order to nourish and sustain our bodies. Just as we would starve if we failed to eat, so we would starve spiritually if we fail to eat our spiritual food.
And it is this spiritual nourishment that God gives that. He also uses to strengthen and keep us in faith and to give us an answer to speak, as well as the courage, when He gives us the opportunity. God gives and we are given to.
19 of 52 © Rev. Dr. Ronald A. Bogs (2018)
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