¹⁷ “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. ¹⁹ So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5:17-19

Dear God, I’m going to be doing a talk next week at a Lutheran Lenten service, and as I read this passage this morning my thought is that I don’t want to teach anything that will get me “least in the Kingdom of Heaven” status. And that can be the hard part sometimes. I’m so ignorant. We all are. Is there anyone, all the way up to Tim Mackie (one of the better Bible scholars I’ve heard) who is not teaching some foolishness at some level? I know there’s an interview today on this one podcast I listen to about women teaching in the church. This guy just wrote a book about it. I’m not sure of his conclusions, but I can’t help but wonder if he truly didn’t know and set out to find the answer, or did he set out with an answer in his mind and then find the sources to support his conclusion.

I can go back and look at old prayers I typed to you years ago and find that I disagree now with what I wrote then. Some of it was out of biblical ignorance the first time I wrote it. Some was out of naivete. Some was just a result of bad teaching I received. And maybe some of it I was actually right about back then and I’m wrong now. If anyone besides you even reads what I’m writing today, I hope they see it purely from the standpoint of someone who is trying to simply spend time with you and allow my life to be molded by you and not to get any sort of “truth” out of it because everything I write is probably riddled with errors.

Father, I will have a chance to influence people today. Help me to do it well. I will have a chance to be influenced by others. Help me to be shrewd and discerning about the opinions I allow into my head. Protect me from hate. Protect me from bitterness. Protect me from selfishness. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen