Month: October 2015

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Facing the Giants

Glacier Bay, Alaska

When confronting our giants we remember how Jesus faced his giant on the cross for us.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath,
came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel.
He was over nine feet tall!”
1 Samuel 17:4 New Living Translation

I live near fourteen thousand feet peaks with one of them, Pikes Peak, in my backyard. Mount Fairweather, the dot in the right hand corner of this picture, is only one thousand feet higher (15,325 ft.) than these peaks. But here’s the difference: I live at nearly 7,000 feet, I took this picture at sea level.

Glacier Bay, Alaska
Glacier Bay, Alaska

Mount Fairweather is a giant.

Through David, God overcame Goliath.

We face giants everyday. Your giant is probably not the same as mine, but that doesn’t matter. What is difficult for us to believe is that God has overcome our giants. We struggle with them day in and day out. We wonder if we’ll experience any kind of victory over our giants.

Imagine the giants that Jesus faced on the cross for us.

It is Jesus who faced the giants of sin, death and hell for us.  And for a moment on that cross, he was overcome by these enemies but his resurrection secured his victory.

He overcame Goliath for you.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Seeing Past the Chaos

Glenn Eyrie, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Christians live with the tension in the variety of God’s gifts.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“God in his kindness gave each of us different gifts.”
Romans 12:6a God’s Word to the Nations

This is a closeup picture of a larger sandstone formation. I’m not sure what forces have been at work on this piece of Lyon’s Sandstone near Glen Eyrie but I love the patterns.

Glenn Eyrie, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Glenn Eyrie, Colorado Springs, Colorado

My imagination conjures up interesting images when I gaze at this picture. What do you see? I see deer prints, a pigs nose and an aspen leaf. You probably see something different.

Though we all cling to the same salvation in Christ Jesus, we all have different gifts and experiences that allow us to see the world differently

My job is not to convince you to see the same things I see in the sandstone. I can tell you what I see and even point it out to you, but it is not my place to convince you that what I see is the only image set in stone.

There is tension in the Christian community between acknowledging the one way to the Father through Jesus Christ and the variety of perspectives with which the baptized see the world. We don’t usually like tension so we try to resolve it by convincing other people that our vision is correct.

Instead of resolving this tension, what if we did something novel? What if we told others what we see, and then listened as they tell us what they see? In the end we’ll grasp the bigger picture of what God is doing in his world through this one gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
Discipleship

Back-End Love – by Christine Joy

Love is more than loving the lovable.

Love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8

As Christians, we should stand out from the world.  Specifically how we love should be how we stand out.  But it doesn’t take being a Christian to love Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful. It doesn’t take being a Christian to love that perfect little baby.  It doesn’t take being a Christian to love that fellow church worker as we light-heartedly work together on a ministry.  These are examples of “front-end” love.  That’s the easy part, at the beginning of  relationships; before we get to know people’s faults.  Before they let us down.  Before we let them down.

ForgiveSo where do we shine?  At the back-end of love.  After Mr. Wonderful didn’t call to say he’d be late, again.  After Mrs. Wonderful’s jokes pointed out a major fault- in front of everyone!  After the perfect baby looked us straight in the eye and said “No!”  After that fellow church worker shirked their responsibilities-again, or even worse: disagreed with us!  Maybe our expectations of looking different to the world happen after the warts start showing up.  Yes, we always expect the best of God, and yes we expect and strive to have Him work the best in us.  But maybe when we look at others, maybe, just maybe, we should expect to forgive.  A lot.  That is where God’s love comes through. That is where we look different from the world. That’s how we shine.

So, let’s look for offenses (we’re going to see them anyway) but with a change of purpose.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, let’s look for offenses so that we can overlook them;  let’s look for hurtful actions so that we can quickly forgive;  let’s look for harsh words so that we can answer softly with kindness.  And they will know we are Christians by our love.

Copyright Christine Joy

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Christine Joy is Midwest raised with a Colorado heart. Her four children have recently emptied the nest and her husband says they are “back where they started”. She is continuing her love of Bible Study while exploring her interest in writing.