Our Blog

By: Pastor Schlicht

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
– Genesis 3:15

Did you know God’s first promise to send his Son was spoken to the Devil? Sure seems a little backwards, doesn’t it? How did things go so wrong? God’s perfect world was ruined by Adam’s sin its stain has been with us ever since. But, as just celebrated, Jesus did come. He was the offspring of the woman sent to be at odds with the devil. He came to be struck in his heel by submitting to death on a cross, but in doing so to ultimately crush the devil’s head by the victory he won on Easter. His coming brought faith and hope so that people like you and me can lift our heads up as we begin a new year.

But if you ask me, it sure would have been easier for God to have just started over. He could have avoided all the pain, all the sin, all the suffering, and even the cost of his dear Son. But that’s not how he did it. It wouldn’t have been him; it wouldn’t have been what our God of love would do.

You and I can be eternally grateful that when the cards weren’t falling right for God “in the beginning” he didn’t just reshuffle and deal again. He kept playing even if it meant inserting his One and Only into the deck as the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14). In God’s heart getting all the people yet to be “played” home safe and sound was worth the sacrifice.

In 2018, God will continue to play out the hand he began in the beginning. For when he was faced with the prospect of starting over, he chose a path that meant he would have to work at winning every soul from the beginning to the end of time. And that has something to say to us as we are faced with the things we’d like to start over in the New Year.

1. Don’t start over if it means tossing people aside. God went looking for them. He took the first steps in reaching out to them. If things look hopelessly stalled, try offering love as God did.
2. Don’t always expect a quick solution. God set out on a course to save sinners that required constant vigilance in orchestrating world and personal events in order to send the Word made flesh. God still expects to work at winning every soul through the sure power of the Holy Spirit.
3. Don’t start over just because it would be easier. None of the choices God made, and none of the things Jesus did to carry out God’s plan were the easier options.
4. Finally, realize that there may come a time where you do have to start over. Because God didn’t, he is able to forgive and restore. His love is always able to give us new beginnings just like he is right now, at the start of 2018.

The Lord has blessed Eastside Lutheran with many opportunities for growth. I’d love to see you make a renewed commitment to attending your church and supporting your school in 2018. Whether we start some things over or continue to love and labor through challenges, we do it with God and his relentless, saving love at our center. God’s blessings in 2018.