The Lord's Slowness

... and 14 pieces of advice from Luther on Mortification

1/ The Lord is Not Slow (2 Peter 3:9)

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise
as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you,
not wishing that any should perish,
but that all should reach repentance.

(Sorry this is arriving a day late. Blessed Ash Wednesday!)

2/ The Ten Commandments as Diagnostic for Repentance

Here’s a helpful Ash Wednesday-ish post.

https://wolfmueller.co/confessional-mirror/

Here are the

1. What am I afraid of? 

2. How are my prayers? 

3. What is my attitude toward worship? 

4. What is my attitude toward authority? 

5. Am I angry? 

6. Am I chaste?

7. Am I generous? 

8. Am I bitter?

9. & 10. Am I happy? Am I content? 

3/ God’s Promises are Like a Toy Rope

We were talking about this Luther quotation in the World-Wide Bible Class yesterday.

Thus in our life, when we are exercised by the Word in the church and use the sacraments, we are also plagued by various trials, and our faith is tested like gold in a furnace.

Thinking about how the Lord “exercises” up, the image of a dog pulling on a rope came to mind.

The Lord does not give us His promises like a dog treat. He gives us His promises like a rope, we latch on, and the the Lord starts tugging it back.

Imagine being the dog. “Wait a minute, are you giving me the rope or taking the rope from me.” That’s the Christian life. God be praised!

As Luther reminds us, we “hear the Word of God, believe it, and are exercised in faith by many tribulations and annoyances.”

4/ The Topic of Mortification…

… came up in the conversation after Bible Class, and I found this old article:Progressive Mortification, How to Humble the Flesh.

It includes a list of Fourteen Pieces of Advice from Martin Luther on Mortifying the Flesh.

Check out the article here.

5/ The Foolishness of God

Digging around for something else in Luther, I found this helpful quotation:

So Christ conquered the wisdom of the world not by wisdom but by foolishness, and the power of the world by weakness. He did not conquer evil by evil, not life by life, not bitter by bitter, but by their opposites, life by death, and evil by good.

Luther on Psalm 29, LW 10:135

6/ Keep It Clean: Holy People in a Filthy World

If you’re interested, you can listen or watch the lectures I gave in Chicago last week here: https://bethanylcs.org/lay-theology-conference-1

(Please excuse the sickness.)

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Remember to go to your pastor's Bible Class this week and, read old theology books. (If you don't have a pastor or congregation, click here. If you don't have old theology books, click here.) 

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Thank you, again, for your time and attention, and for your prayers. Please keep in touch. 

Lord's Blessings, Pastor Wolfmueller

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

www.wolfmueller.co

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