“Hey Abe, I need to go to the store, would you like to come with me?”

“No, Dad. I need to work out”.

The first time I heard this response, I was taken aback. “Work out?” I thought to myself, “ah, maybe this is just a phase”. Yet the next day, I asked, “Hey Abe, I need to go to church, would you like to come with me?”

“No, Dad, I need to work out”. I thought to myself, “well, I guess this is not simply an aberration, but rather, it has become a routine”.

Routines... we all have routines. Whether it be, our morning start with prayer, word and of course, coffee! Or at meal time as we pray and give thanks to the Lord for all that He has done and continues to do. We even have routines in all the vocations that God has given to us. Indeed, routines are beneficial.

And so it is in this life of faith. Attending consistently Sunday’s Divine Service, studying the Word at Sunday and mid-week bible studies, daily devotions through the portals of prayer, confirmation [beginning in October] children’s reading calendars, and FLC’s ongoing you-tube content, [listening again to the Sunday sermon, law and gospel, and what’s the big deal] the routine is in full swing and truly it is to our own benefit because the Word is living and active, sustaining us in the one true faith.

Yet, there is the so-called “treadmill disease”. Yes at first, we are enthused at first. We buy the treadmill and we use the machine daily for a few months, yet there is that one day, when we tell ourselves, “Oh, let’s take a day off”. And as soon as the routine is broken, how difficult it is to restart that as the next month begins and lo and behold, the treadmill has collected dust and has solely become a place to hang our clothes!

The question is, what is deterring you from the routine in the Word?

• Is it the busyness of the weekly schedule?

• Is it the upside down priorities that have taken precedence over the Word?

• What is turning you from the routine in the Word?

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” [1Pt5:8]. Indeed, our greatest deterrent is the devil, the world and the flesh! Therefore friends, I encourage you continually to be in the Word. Trust me, as sinners, it is very difficult. After a long day and returning home at night, just as I open the door, the children say, “Hurry up Dad, it’s bible time!”. Indeed it is, another reminder that even after a long and exhausting day, where I could have made many excuses on why we should forego the Word, what a blessing and comfort it is to have this most gracious routine.

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise” [Dt 6:6-7]

Have a blessed September in the Word.

✝️ Pastor Jeong

The full newsletter can be found here:
https://www.faithmoorpark.com/files/pdf/2024/2024-09-Newsletter.pdf