Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the Cross:

“LORD, help me control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say. Take away my desire to do evil or to join others in doing wrong. Don’t let me eat tasty food with those who do evil.” (Psalm 141:3–4, NCV)

Little lives need the great sunshine of mother’s love, and the great heat of Christ’s benediction. Suffer me to speak a word of experience from the schools where they will learn of great men: Caesar will not teach them such courage; Washington will not inspire them with such patriotism; Socrates will not show them such calmness; David will not impress them with such chivalry; Moses will not move them with such meekness; Elijah will not imbue them with such earnestness; Daniel will not touch them with such manliness; Job will not nerve them with such patience; Paul will not fire them with such love, as will their daily little devout intercourse with Jesus Christ, in the prayers they learn to lisp while yet in your arms, or to repeat while yet kneeling at your knee. Lead them there, and their future manhood and womanhood will rise up to call you blessed.

A Christian must take care that he deceive not himself; he differs from the hypocrite, who may honor God’s Word and the gospel, yet in reality he is unchanged. True Christians so live that it is apparent from their lives that they keep God before their eyes and truly believe the gospel

Psalm 141’s words immediately made me think about the coming elections, and the posts I’ve seen, and been tempted to respond to on social media. For honestly, watching people, church people, demonize the candidate that opposes “their” candidate, whether national, state or local is getting exhausting. At the same time, the hope they are placing in their own candidates makes me wonder how close our society gets to idolatry.

And Psalm 141 hits me right between the eyes.

I am not saying don’t consider positions, I am saying how we treat the “opposition” and our favored candidate needs to be watched, lest we fall deep into idolatry, fatalism, and gossip and slander.That is the “tasty food” set before us, which we could all to easily share with others who are broken, but do not yet have the hope of eternity, but just emptiness, and so this life matters more that it should.

Luther is dead on accurate, we have to fight against the hypocritical “old adam” that would have us slide into the idea that the end justifies the means, for our side. We need to live with our lives, our hope, our trust placed in God, that we can cling to the message of reconciliation and redemption, leading to everlasting life with God… in His kingdom.

Loehe, that trainer of Lutheran pastors of the 19th century gets it right–what matter is not the examples of the great men we know from history. They will not learn from even expertise on these great men, even the great men of scripture, as much as a few moments of simple prayers, of simply basking in the love of Christ as we think on His presence, and His promises in our lives.

It is beneficial to show them how God is always faithful to the broken, for all these leaders were, but that is only to support our devotion to the Lord who is faithful to keep the promises He has made us. Promises that need to be thought through, taken to heart, and claimed in our dialogue with the God who comes to us. Those prayers toddlers and infants learn. that we can use as well, resonate so deeply that they can change our outlook and give us comfort and peace. The same as pointing out the other times we focus in on that intimate relationship, hearing His word, sharing in His death and resurrection in the sacraments, and simply know we are His…

encouraging people to pray, whether the 3-year-old or the 93-year-old – is worth more than all the votes in all the elections, for the result is far more beneficial, as we come to know the love and the peace that both go beyond all comprehension.

Lœhe, W. (1914). Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians (H. A. Weller, Trans.; pp. 599–600). Wartburg Publishing House.

Luther, M., & Sander, J. (1915). Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year (p. 365). Augustana Book Concern.