keep

Friday November 1^st, Luke 18:   ¹³"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'  I have a beer mug from www.oldlutheran.com that says, “Sin Boldly Lager.”  It doesn’t make the beer taste any better but I still like using it.  Luther said we are at the same time saint and sinner.  Saint by the blood of Christ and sinner by our own doing.  As saints we are forgiven sinners called to answer the question, “now that you don’t have to do anything, what are you going to do?”  Most of us don’t answer the question and thereby answer it by saying, “we are going to par—tay!!!!!  The answer God was looking for was “we are going to forgive others and thereby build a better world!!!!”  The best thing the tax collector had to offer was the honesty of who he was.  It would be our best response also.  Sometimes we just want.  We want all the things we see on TV and in our neighbors yard, it is then we should remember that we are to fear and love God so that we do not desire to get our neighbor's possessions by scheming, or by pretending to have a right to them, but always help them keep what is theirs.