Monday of the Fourteenth Week After Trinity

September 7, 2026 Today's Reading: Proverbs 4:10-23Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 4:38-5:8; Ephesians 6:1-24 “Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” (Proverbs 4:13) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Legos come with instructions. Furniture from IKEA comes with instructions. Your teacher gives you instructions. Your parents give you instructions. All these are very helpful to complete a task or tasks throughout life. Without them, you might still get the Legos built or figure out how to change your wiper blades, eventually.So when the author of Proverbs says, “Keep hold of instructions,” we might be tempted to think about some simple instructions for how to get things done, like building a bird house or baking a cake, or maybe how to have a good life with lots of friends and money and power and few enemies. But this instruction is so much more. We’re told not to let it go, not to lose it or let it slip through our fingers. We’re told to guard, to preserve it, not just some of it, but all of it,  because this is an instruction in your life. Not what keeps you breathing, but your eternal life, salvation in Christ Jesus.Instruction here is another way to say “all the teachings of the Scriptures”. Central to the teaching, all the instruction, is Jesus Christ, who gave His blood on the tree of the cross to forgive your sin and grant you life eternal with Him. This instruction is what you are or have been taught in catechesis classes and in the preaching of your pastor each Sunday. It is faith and knowledge of Christ Jesus crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of all your sin. This instruction in Christ Jesus is your life, here in time, and for eternity.So guard it well. It should be held onto tighter than your phone. Guard it includes feeding it, regularly attending the Divine Service to hear the preaching of the Word, to be reminded that you are a baptized child of God, to receive the Absolution of all your sins, and to eat of Christ’s body and drink of His blood for the assurance that your sin is forgiven, eternal life, and salvation are yours. This instruction should be the single most important thing in your life that you guard and cling to always, because this instruction is nothing less than Jesus. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Lord, help us ever to retain The Catechism’s doctrine plain As Luther taught the Word of truth In simple style to tender youth. (LSB 865:1) Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.