For the week of February 6-10, I was asked to record radio devotions for KCMR, a Christian radio station out of Mason City, Iowa. You can find all their radio devotions here on Soundcloud.
This devotion aired on February 8, 2017, and is based on last month’s Epiphany sermon from January 8, 2017.
Enjoy all five of this week’s devotions:
Monday, February 6, 2017
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
This is Pastor Daniel Flucke from St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene, with today’s KCMR Inspiration 97.9 daily devotion.
In the Star Wars movie, Rogue One, that came out this fall, the hero of the story is a girl named Jyn Erso. Without giving away too much of the movie, there’s a point in the film where she says she doesn’t want to get involved in the fight against the evil galactic empire.
Someone asks her about her apathy. How she can stand to see what’s happening around her and not get involved? She responds, “It’s not a problem if you don’t look up.” What a great line. “It’s not a problem if you don’t look up.”
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt so discouraged that you just didn’t want to look up? Have you ever turned off the news because it was too gloomy?
Sometimes it seems like it’s better if we don’t pay attention to what’s happening in the rest of the world. Maybe we should just keep our heads down, not look up. As long as my life is going well, as long as I’m doing ok, why should I care about someone else’s life?
“It’s not a problem if you don’t look up.”
The problem, of course, is that God tells us to look up. In the very first sermon Jesus preaches, in Luke chapter 4, he talks about proclaiming good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind.
In stories like the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus teaches us to care about our neighbors, meaning everyone around us, even our enemies. In John 21, after the resurrection, Jesus tells Peter, his disciple, “If you love me, feed my sheep.”
We can’t keep our heads down. As followers of Jesus, we have to look up. If we love Jesus, we have to get involved. We need to open our eyes and look for ways we can help our neighbors.
Maybe it’s giving to a food pantry. Maybe it’s buying a cup of coffee for someone in need. Maybe it’s calling your representative or senator. Maybe it’s giving to your church. Maybe it’s simply talking to someone who is having a rough day.
If you don’t know what to do or how to help your neighbor, you can always pray. That’s really the most important thing you can do. Pray for the world. Pray for the poor. Pray for the church. Look up and see the problems in our world, and take them to Jesus. Take them to the throne of the King of Kings.
In the movie Rogue One, Jyn Erso is at first so discouraged that she refuses to get involved in the struggle. She refuses to rebel against the empire. She refuses to look up. But as the story goes on, she opens her eyes.
She starts to look up, and she realizes she can make a difference in the world. She can make a dent in the universe, and through Christ, so can you.
What is it God is calling you to do? How is God calling you to get involved? It all starts with prayer.
It starts with looking up, and seeing the world as God sees it, as something worth dying for, looking with the eyes of faith.
God looked at the world and called it good. God hasn’t given up on the world, and neither should we.
May God bless you as you seek to make a difference in the world in Jesus’ name.
This has been Pastor Daniel Flucke from St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene.
Enjoy all five of this week’s devotions:
Monday, February 6, 2017
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017