Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

(The LORD said) "... When I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not listen; but they did what was evil in My eyes and chose that in which I did not delight." Isaiah 66:4b

It was a fair number of years ago that a huge crowd gathered in the street outside a hotel in Glasgow, Scotland.

The folks, who hailed from every economic and educational strata, had come together for a very important purpose: they wished to welcome home their victorious soccer team.

During the midst of the celebration a quiet, little man entered the hotel unnoticed. He wasn't a soccer player and since he wasn't he didn't amount to anything in the eyes of that great group of enthusiastic humanity.

That shouldn't have been. For while the soccer team had brought home a trophy and a certain amount of civic pride, the unrecognized man had been responsible for many of them being there. Indeed, he was the reason many of them were still alive.

You see, the forgotten fellow was Alexander Fleming, the man most responsible for putting penicillin on the shelves of the world's pharmacists.

This is just this devotion's way of saying that sometimes the important can be pushed aside by the inconsequential. If I asked the Daily Devotion readers if the Savior is important to them, they would look shocked at such a foolish question. I pray all of us have been brought to that place where we recognize the incomparable value of the Christ whose life was offered up in payment for our salvation.

We would say, "Jesus is the most important Person in our lives," and we would mean it.

Sadly, things of this world often get in the way of our worshipping Him. Cabins, vacations, grass cutting, family visits, toothaches and a whole host of minor events and insignificant situations get in our way and draw our attention away from Jesus who is the "one thing needful" (see Luke 10:42).

If that is so, accept this devotion as a little reminder that when the Lord calls, we need to answer; when He speaks, we ought to listen and when the opportunity to worship Him presents itself, nothing ought to woo our eyes away from the cross and empty tomb.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive the times the trivial pushes aside the important things in my life. Help me remember the wonders of Your love and respond with worship and praise. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: 2 Kings 10-12    James 4

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