Good Morning, Lord!
I Am Baptized
3 Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have
been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him
in a resurrection like his. (Rom. 6:3-5 ESV)
Make the sign of the cross as you say, “In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
A Morning Prayer
O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God,
You have safely brought us to the beginning of this day. Defend us in the same
with Your mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run
into any kind of danger, but that all our doings, being ordered by Your
governance, may be righteous in Your sight; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our
Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever. Amen.[1]
I Believe …
I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the
Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord,
who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all
sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but
with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I
may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting
righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead,
lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
Bible Reading – Psalm
8
To
the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.[a] A Psalm
of David.
O Lord,
our Lord,
how
majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of
the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to
still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the
work of your fingers,
the
moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what
is man that you are mindful of him,
and the
son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower
than the heavenly beings
and
crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You
have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you
have put all things under his feet,
7 all
sheep and oxen,
and
also the beasts of the field,
8 the
birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever
passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord,
our Lord,
how
majestic is your name in all the earth![2]
What does it mean to be a little lower than the heavenly beings and yet to be crowned with glory and honor?
The only way to really understand this verse is to see how it is fulfilled in Christ. In Philippians 2 it tells us that Jesus is the form of God (in another place it says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God) he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He was – and is God already, he does not strive to be like God, because he, being God, is already like God, but he emptied himself and humbled himself, he chose the lower place. He took the form of a servant, and was ministered to by angels, receiving their aid after his temptation in the wilderness and before he was crucified. He became obedient unto death, even death on a cross – a shameful and violent death. He did all of this to redeem you, to save you from your sin – sin that causes you to seek after other gods, other comforts, and to ultimately try to become the ultimate authority in your own life.
Because Jesus has won this salvation for you, God has given him the name that is above all names. There is no other name, given under heaven, given to us, by which we must be saved than Jesus’ name. That at his name every knee should bow – that we would bend the knee in worship and praise of our savior and God – in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father.
It is in Jesus that we learn just how majestic the LORD is –
his love and grace causing him to come to us, to reconcile us to himself, and to
dwell among us now and always by his Spirit.
Question for Meditation
What does this reading teach you about Jesus, what He said
and did, or what He wants His followers to believe? What does it teach you
about God’s love and forgiveness?
What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading
challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your
life through this reading?
Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
The Fourth
Petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Heavenly Father, You give daily bread to everyone without
our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that You
would lead us to realize this so that we receive our daily bread with
thanksgiving. Make us mindful of all that You give us that has to do with the
support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house,
home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children,
devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather,
peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors,
and help us to always give thanks to You; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Prayer
Pray about the
creation. This certainly includes things like pollution and proper care for
creation, but it also includes growing seasons, the bounty of the earth, food
for the hungry, and every aspect of bodily life.
Benediction
The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and
forevermore. (Ps. 121:7-8 ESV)
[1] Collect for Peace, Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Publishing
House, St. Louis, 2006, p. 241
[2] English
Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers.
Comments