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What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Galatians 4:15–16, ESV

I have been told that in services and sermons that we should not talk about sin, but only focus on Jesus. My question is, how can you focus on Jesus without realizing a need for Him? Our faith is a Law and Gospel faith which the Law points us to our need for Jesus and the Gospel shows us Jesus and His forgiveness for us. If we focus only on our need for Jesus we can become burdened and weighed down in the work that we believe we must do. Yet, with a balance of realizing our need and then knowing who Jesus is and what He has done helps us to see that there is nothing we can do for our salvation. There is no penance we have to pay, no work we must accomplish, but only blessings we are meant to receive. If we lose sight of the blessings being given, we lose sight of Christ and become enslaved in the burdens of our sin. When things seem to be coming down around you, our Lord desires for us to pray and ask for His forgiveness of our sins known and unknown. Then as we give those things over to our Lord, He calls us to receive His forgiveness and be filled with His blessings as we are washed, renewed, and brought into His peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.