What fires burn in your heart today?

Word from the Center
Written By Dr. Gregory Seltz

Welcome to “Word from The Center” MONDAY, a devotional word from the Center of our faith, Jesus Christ, with reflections on His Word. I’m Gregory Seltz. Today’s verses are Luke 24:29b-35, where the Bible tells of these events after Jesus had walked to Emmaus with two of His followers on the evening of His resurrection:    

So, [Jesus] went in to stay with them. [30] When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. [31] Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. [32] They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” [33] And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, [34] saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” [35] They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

What a Bible study it must have been that day! On the road to Emmaus, Jesus rooted those disciples in the firm promises of the Bible that had come to fruition in Him. Even more, Jesus set their hearts on fire by anchoring their faith in Him in all things (verse 32). That’s a fire which comes from God’s love and grace through faith in the Son of God. It comes from knowing that God’s Offer of life and salvation in Jesus burns, but does not destroy. Instead it empowers us and sets our lives on fire to make a difference, both now and in our eternity with him.

In my work in Washington D.C., I see a lot of passion around town. There are people who are passionate for this policy or that legislation. There are people who think that if we just “restructure” the government correctly, then all of our problems would be solved. (That’s definitely not me!) Then there are people who are passionate about their jobs, their hobbies, or their families. These can all be good, but they must never be the ULTIMATE THING in our lives. Passion, even for the good things in life, must be rooted in the fire that comes by faith in Jesus. Then the fire of our Spirit-inspired passions, rooted in and refreshed by God’s Word and Sacraments, will not devour us. Instead, they will “burn” in us in a way that empowers our lives as Jesus’ disciples and fuels our love for others in His Name.

Jesus speaks bluntly about the things that naturally burn in our corrupted, selfish, and sinful hearts. “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man” (Matthew 15:19-20). Even worse, such fires can blind us to the love that God has for us in Jesus. They can blind us to the wisdom of God’s Word for our lives and for the lives of those whom we love. The passionate fires of sin and rebellion may seem fulfilling for a time, but those which go contrary to His Word only seek to disconnect us from Jesus and ultimately destroy life.

If you have been singed by those fires or if they are burning out of your control in your life today, hear the good news of this text. Even amidst the fires of hopelessness, ignorance, or unbelief, Jesus comes with the fires of God’s Law to call you to repentance and then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to open your heart to His grace, forgiveness, life, and salvation, even delivering such gifts to you at the table of His Supper. Then the fire of God’s Gospel promise in Christ burns brightly to help you battle the fires of sin and temptation in your life.

So the question posed by this text today is, “What makes your heart burn?” When it’s the Word of Scripture seeking to deepen your faith in your Savior Jesus Christ, that’s an empowering fire, not a devouring one. When life is continually resourced by the fires of God’s Word in the enduring promises of the waters of Baptism and at the Table of the Lord, that’s a heavenly heartburn which offers grace through faith in Jesus. It is sure to not only bless you, but to bless others through you. May that blessing be yours today in Christ as it was for those who walked with Him so long ago and recognized Him in the “breaking of the Bread” (verse 35).

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, open my eyes to see the empowering fire of Your Word as it creates and strengthens my faith in You. Then give me courage to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) with the passion and the humility that comes from receiving the blessings of Your Word by grace through faith. AMEN.

See Also
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 Collectivism has the warmth of a Siberian gulag, a dark North Korean night. The fact that Mamdani can get away with such rhetoric, even after Communism has taken the lives of tens of millions of people, is frustrating.

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February 2026 Bulletin Insert
February 2026 Bulletin Insert

The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.

February 2026 Bulletin Blurbs
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The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.

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4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

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January 2026 Bulletin Blurbs
January 2026 Bulletin Blurbs

The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.

January 2026 Bulletin Insert
January 2026 Bulletin Insert

The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.

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Today’s verses are Isaiah 35:3-4, where the Bible declares:

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

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What of it? Things change, and prayers are answered. Just as few predicted the fall of the Soviet Union and the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, we were supposed to think that Roe v. Wade was set in stone, a law surer than the Ten Commandments. Stare decisis, we heard ad nauseam. But in step six wise and courageous judges, and we got the Dobbs decision. Now, that didn't happen by accident. It was a matter of persistent. Persistent prayer, persistent marching, persistent lobbying and electioneering. Why bother? 60 million little ones who have lost their lives. And still counting.

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In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

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December 2025 Prayer Partner Thursday
December 2025 Prayer Partner Thursday

Prayer Partner Thursday provides a month-long prayer emphasis in one of the four Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty areas of emphasis: Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Life, Educational Freedom, and Marriage as an Institution (family).

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17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross

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Thanksgiving by Presidential Proclamation?

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Dr. Gregory Seltz
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