I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phi 3:14 NIV)

Let us pursue sanctification in all earnestness as the Lord helps to fight and to win! If I perceive a sin and I am able to wrench it out with holy zeal, then God opens my eyes more and more showing me other faults, which I should get rid of.  Always struggle and victory. There is no standing still in this life. Forward, forward the elect crowd encourages. Forward cries our holy Church as gathered community of the gospel and pure doctrine. Forward calls her beautiful confession from that of Augsburg to the profoundly pacifying one of the Book of Concord, which brings to rest all desires of the soul.

This gospel fellowship contains us, added are sanctification, the works of love, the fruits of righteousness. These we strive and plead for, that is what we sacrifice for. Nobody is to play with sin, everyone is to kill off the vice in him/herself and holy zeal awakes in us to sanctify the name of the Lord, to have his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as in heaven.

Lord, our God, grant that we fix our eyes on you, the eternal and imperishable if all else perishes. You, the unchangeable when the movement of all earthly things pulls us away. Grant that we pursue your goal of the heavenly calling in Jesus Christ and if we tire, strengthen us pilgrims with a foretaste of  our citizenship in your magnificent city, where the tree of life is eternally in full bloom permanently bearing everlasting fruits. Amen.  (Chr. Blumhardt)

Walk, you warrior, always on, through denial to pleasure! As elect and of noble birth, lead your life accordingly: If you want to be Jesus’ bride, throw down the vain trinkets of this world!

We laugh at your stuff, reject your desires. Your beauty, this and that we care not to see; what is glorious, large and important to you is for us too bad and void, your ballast just weighs us down.

Our longing, our tears are more comforting than your joy; could you see and understand the hidden bliss, you would also escape your stuff and hike with the despised and naked bunch towards eternity. (Gerhard Tersteegen)

(Translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Thursday after the 1^st Sunday after Epiphany as found on Pg. 58 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and puplished in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.)