The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 17

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e Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisnuep BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL ConFERENCE oF Nortn AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFYF, Eniror.

Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXIII.

Prayer for Lent.

Prepare us, Lord, to view Thy cross,
Who all our sins hast borne;

To look on Thee whom we have pierced,
To look on Thee and mourn.

While thus we mourn, we would rejoice,
And as Thy cross we see,

Let each exclaim, in faith and hope,
“The Savior died for me!”

T. 0.

—--——- 0m —— -

Lessons of Lent.

The forty days before Easter are called the
season of Lent. ‘This season of the church-year is
devoted to special meditation on the sufferings and
death of our Savior. Such meditation should teach
us many important lessons.

From the sufferings and death of Christ we
should Jearn what a horrible thing sin is. Men
make light of sin. But sin is an awful thing. It
is the transgression of God’s holy Law and brings
upon the sinner the curse of that Law. “For it is
written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in
all things which are written in the book of the Law
to do them!” Gal. 3, 10. Sin is rebellion against
God, who hates sin, and whose justice demands the
punishment of sin. It was for sin that Christ suf-
fered and died. Not for His sin. He had no sin.
He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners,” Hebr. 7, 26. He “did no sin, neither was
guile found in His mouth,” 1 Pet. 2, 22. Christ
suffered and died for our sins, for the sins of the
world. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all,” says the prophet. “He bore our sins in
His own body on the tree,” says the apostle. It

ST. LOUIS, MO., MARCH, 1911.

No. 3.

was our sin that brought upon the holy, beloved
Son of God those bitter sufferings and that painful
death upon the cross. The sin-hating God spared
not His own beloved Son when He saw Him laden
with the sins of the world. What a dreadful thing
must sin be that required such a sacrifice! How
deep, how black its guilt!‘ Well may we mourn over
our sins and learn to hate sin, as we behold the
suffering and dying Savior.

From the sufferings and death of Christ we
should also learn how unspeakably great God’s love
is for sinners. It was love ‘that moved God to give
His own Son into sufferings and death. God so
loved the world! “God commendeth His love to-
ward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us,” says the apostle. It was love that
mnoved the Son of God to come into this sin-cursed
world and make Himself a sacrifice for sin that
sinners might escape everlasting damnation. He
“loved me and gave Himself for me,” says the
apostle." Such love should melt the sinner’s heart
and draw him to that loving Savior who surely will
not cast out the sinner that comes unto Him for
pardon and salvation.

We should learn also how precious man’s soul
is in the sight of God. Not corruptible things like
silver and gold, but the life of God’s own Son was
the ransom paid for our souls’ redemption. We
were “redeemed with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Who can measure the preciousness of the soul as it
is thus valued by God? And yet so many neglect
their souls’ salvation. They ruin their souls by sin
and regard their soul as of less value than the
passing treasures and pleasures of this world. May
we learn the true value of our souls, and may our