May 17 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. These theses were arguments against the wrong doctrines and hypocritical practices of the church. The main message of the 95 theses was that a person can be saved by faith alone. Faith in God is our only hope for the future. Luther had learned to understand this central truth when he read Romans 1:17, “the just shall live by faith.” What Luther wrote immediately caught the attention of church officials; years of heated debate followed. Luther and his followers would not back down since they were convinced obedience to the Word of the Lord was at stake.

The Lord God used these events to bring reformation and a return to the Word of the Lord. True reformation is a return to the Scriptures as the norm for all of life. Not only individuals but the entire people of God are repeatedly called to repent and turn to the Lord. God calls His people to turn from their transgressions, so that iniquity will not be their ruin.

The Word of God is perfect and complete, but God’s people are not. We fall short of His holy standard. As long as sin remains on this earth reformation will always be necessary. Like personal repentance and conversion, church reformation is ongoing until the end of times. As people of God we must always be willing to undergo self-criticism and self-evaluation. Such self-criticism is never easy because it requires total allegiance to the Lord and complete devotion to Scripture. The church should never be satisfied with the status quo. Letting things be the way they are “shuts the door against all true progress in church reformation. For the status quo is always sinful. It is always falling short of the requirements of the Word of God. It is always something less than what God really requires of the church.” (J.G. Vos) Furthermore, every church must fight the tendency to place human customs and traditions on the level of Biblical principle as well as the tendency to treat matters of principle as mere opinions that are subject to human approval. When man’s ideas prevail the church has lost its moorings. Pray that the Lord keep us faithful to Him as we live in submission to His will.