The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 / Psalm 103

“For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:14

He Knows Who You Are

We often heard it said, “I’m only human!” It’s true – we are not perfect. We are not God – God knows that too. But this is no excuse for doing things that are unbecoming to God. The fact that we are mortal will not cause God to look the other way. Many will excuse themselves from taking the road of repentance, saying they are only human. But that is all it is – an excuse – and one that our Lord cannot accept. In the beginning, God created man to be holy, and He expects us to be holy now. He isn’t being difficult. It is simply that anything un-clean cannot hold up in His holy presence. It is like fire and straw. God is pure, like a consuming fire, and straw cannot hold up in the presence of fire.
How, then, can we frail human beings stand before God? It is impossible with us, but not with God. He doesn’t treat us as we deserve. In Jesus, who is true man but also true God, the guilt of our sins have been removed. Now the perfect record of Jesus is ours. He knows who we are. In Jesus, we are His beloved. The Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament, kindles in us the purifying fire of God’s pure love and enables us to live as the children of God.

Dear Father, thank You for knowing me so well and loving me so much in Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.

January 14, 1994