Opening Prayer
O God, make us partakers of the heavenly riches of Your grace and love. Amen.
Text: Luke 12:32-37
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”
Devotion
“It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He takes pleasure in it. It is His sincere desire. He is happy to save you and He longs to have you with Him. Be confident, little flock; willingly suffer poverty and loss on earth. Beware of loving mammon; your heart owns a much greater treasure that you will surely enjoy, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. “Good pleasure” is a wonderful expression, sweet and strengthening to our poor, easily forsaken, and unbelieving heart! Shouldn’t the almighty Father be able to carry through what is indeed the good pleasure of His will? So you are eternally rich and own a treasure which no thief may rob and no moth may destroy. So sell what you have, it is nothing. This does not mean that you are to have an auction, and cash in all you have, and give it away to those who are near you. But: in your heart sell all that you have, let your heart be free, and settle all earthly accounts; give alms from the joy of your heart, whether you have much or little; freely let it all go. Then you have your treasure in heaven; then you own with your heart what God in Christ has given you: the glory of heaven. “The hands of the poor are the money bags that never wear out.” If we fill them joyfully from our heart, then we gather treasures in heaven. But what is there of heaven’s treasure that the heart owns other than the living God Himself, who is the fullness of heavenly love. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “Like bees in flowers, so is your heart in Christ! The home and dwelling place of Christians are not in treasure chests and shops, not in capital and tangible goods, not in beautiful clothing and jewelry, not in house and yard or family and friendship, not in honor and respect, not in art and knowledge or whatever can be named of earthly goods and gifts, but in heaven, in eternal life, in Jesus Christ.”
Closing Prayer
Lord, teach us to gird ourselves and to kindle our lights and keep them burning. Graciously loose our hearts from all the world’s treasures; be our life, our joy and salvation, and make us rich in love and mercy. Amen.
Hymn
Our God is love and charity;
In Him I am abiding.
In Him I would forever be;
In me He is providing
True faith and trust;
The trumpet’s voice
No longer terrifies me;
On judgment day He is my Stay,
Who with His grace supplies me.
I love my God sincere and free
And nothing me shall frighten;
E’en sorrow now brings cheer to me
Though worldly pressure heighten.
Arise today,
My soul, and pray
That love within be burning
For one and all, Both great and small
And for their good be yearning.
Kingo: Vor Gud er idel Kjærlighed L 458.1-2 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Mit Haab og Trøst og al Tillid (LHy 428) or Was mein Gott will (ELH 261); alternate hymn: Thine forever, God of love ELH 515:2.5