#DailyDevotion That Jesus Doesn’t Change Guides Us Spiritually

Heb. 13 ⁷Remember your leaders who told you God’s Word. Consider how their lives ended, and imitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹Don’t get carried away with different kinds of strange teachings. It is good to be inwardly strengthened by God’s grace, not by foods, which haven’t helped those who make so much of them in their lives.

No doubt some of these leaders died for the faith. We are called to remember the leaders who told us God’s Word. We remember them best when we remember what they have taught us about our LORD Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done for us. Imitating their faith first requires us having the same faith. It is a faith that confesses Jesus Christ as LORD, God, Redeemer, Savior, God’s Son, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontus Pilate, dead, buried, resurrected with an immoral body and ascended to the right hand of the Father so we too, through faith in Him win the resurrection of eternal life. Our faith is not for gain in this world but for the world to come. If we trust in the promises of the world to come that will affect how we live our lives in the world we currently are traveling through. It is a life content with what the LORD gives us, seeks to make the lives of those around us better, and has some disdain for what the world considers great.

We are called to remember, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Psalm 102 says, “²⁵Long ago You laid the earth’s foundation, and Your hands made the heavens. ²⁶They perish, but You go on; they will all wear out like a garment; You will change them like clothes, and they will pass away, ²⁷but You are the same and Your years never end.” The LORD says in Isaiah 41, “⁴Who did this and accomplished it? Who calls every generation from the beginning? It is I the LORD, the First and the Last.” He says in Mal. 3, “⁶“But I the LORD have not changed, and so you descendants of Jacob haven’t perished.” Since this so, we are called to emulate Him and be steadfast in His word and teaching. The LORD’s teachings do not change. Therefore we are exhorted to not get carried away with strange teachings. Anyone who says they found something usually exclude all other teaching to emphasize something new to the point, what could be true ends up being false doctrine. Sometimes someone tries to take from the world and look at the Scriptures from their new worldly discovery and corrupt God’s Word. If the Church hasn’t taught it in the past, if it is a new teachings supposedly from the Scriptures it probably isn’t a. True or b. New. The Church has likely dealt with the false doctrine in the past and pointed it out as such. Our fathers in the faith did not teach it.

We are called to be strengthened by God’s Word which bestows upon us God’s grace. His Word, which joined to the institutions, the sacraments which Jesus has given us, gives us God’s grace and this grace strengthens us inwardly. We should regularly remember our baptism, confess our sins so we may receive absolution, and go to the LORD’s Supper and through these means receive God’s grace and be strengthened in our faith for the day. It is interesting sometimes the “new teachings” or nothing but a repristination of the dietary laws under the Old Covenant. We live in the New Covenant. Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of our spiritual food. Following the shadow of what was to come doesn’t edify us as that which cast the shadow, Jesus Christ, who was, is, and is to come. Recalling our father’s teachings concerning Him is what we need for the day. This is true spiritual feeding which leads to eternal life.

Heavenly Father, grant us such faith that remembers the teachings of those You have sent, so we may imitate their faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ, to the end we may receive eternal life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.