Month: November 2015

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PWTE Daily Devotion

How to Be the Next Unlikely Super Hero

St. Elmo, Colorado

God uses us, warts and all, to change people’s lives.

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

“Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall,
she let [the spies] down by a rope through the window.
‘Escape to the hill country,’ she told them.
‘Hide there for three days from the men searching for you.
Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.'”
Joshua 2:15-16 New Living Translation

Wonder Woman, Batman, and the Tick (okay, maybe not the Tick) are characters we expect to save the day. When Gotham City is in danger, we expect Batman to slide down his pole to the Batcave, hop in his Batmobile and race to the rescue. That’s what super heroes do. It’s what we expect them to do, and we know that they will not disappoint us.

St. Elmo, Colorado
St. Elmo, Colorado

I don’t think many of us would consider Rahab a super hero. She’s a prostitute in Jericho; a non-Israelite, yet she knows that God has given the city into the hands of the Israelite. She is willing to risk death to save her life as well as her family’s life. In the process she becomes a super hero of the Bible when she saves the lives of the Israelite spies by her actions to save herself.

There is something earthy, something real in Rahab’s actions. Her goal is not to be a super hero, but to save herself, as well as her family, which she does because she declares the Lord is God (Joshua 2:11), and in this sense believes in the God of the Hebrews.

We don’t set out to be super heroes, in fact, much of what we do is to save our lives. God uses even our self-serving actions to change the lives of others. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we should disregard our motives. I’m not saying we ought to live with selfish intent, but I am saying that even when our motives do not put God first he is at work to do what he does best: save lives.

How important was Rahab’s actions? We need to look to the New Testament for the answer as she is listed in Jesus’ genealogy, one of only four women mentioned (Matthew 1:5). When others look back on your life, your name will appear in their genealogy of faith because God is at work through you.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

The Call to Open and Close the Door

St. Elmo, Colorado

We are called to both display and make private our faith in Christ.

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

“But when you pray, go away by yourself,
shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.
Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” 
Matthew 6:6 New Living Translation

St. Elmo, Colorado
St. Elmo, Colorado

There is a tension between what God calls us to do in the public square and what he calls us to do behind closed doors. Our times of intimacy with God are not the business of others. I would not think of having an intimate conversation with Janice at McDonald’s. In the same way God intends that those intimate times with him ought to be held behind closed doors. In fact, Jesus says that such a conversation with God will receive a reward, and I don’t think he meant an extra hundred dollars in your bank account.

In the same Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus calls us to pray behind closed doors, he also says,

“In the same way,
let your good deeds shine out for all to see,
so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:16 New Living Translation

We cannot claim that we should live our faith only in the privacy of our homes. God calls us to let our good deeds shine in the world because they reflect his character. We show compassion to the broken, care for the poor, and listen to the suffering because this is what Christ did. It is what attracted people to the shore of Galilee, the coast lands of the Mediterranean, and even the Temple courts in Jerusalem. Our actions speak louder than our lips. It is our actions that bring praise to our heavenly Father.

We are not called to either the privacy of locked doors or the public display of our faith. God has called us to both. This call produces tension, but tension that is at the heart of relationship with God.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

You’ve Gotta Look Out the Window to Find Hope

St. Elmo, Colorado

How do we find hope when all we see are the floods?

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

“After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat”
Gen 8:6 New Living Translation

As I write this devotion I’m sitting by a nice warm fire blazing in my fireplace. It’s snowing outside and there’s no better place to be when it’s snowing than by a nice, warm fire, especially if that fire is consuming real wood and not natural gas. There’s nothing like the snapping of the pitch as the fire burns, or the different shapes of the flames as they leap off the coals.

Yet I can’t resist taking a look at what’s going on outside as it snows. I’ve already snuck over to our backdoor window, turn on the outside light, and raised the blinds. There is still something inside of me that hopes for a snow day. I’m finding hope tonight as I look out the window (my wife’s school is already called off for tomorrow).

I wonder how many times Noah look out the window to see what was happening. It might have been only on day 190 of the flood. Maybe there were other times as well, but this time had a special purpose. He released a raven to see if there was dry ground. The text states that if flew back and forth but never mentions its return.

How anxious Noah must have been to get out of that stinky, smelly boat. How he must have longed to put his feet on solid ground, if not a bit soggy. How his heart must have yearned for freedom.

Many days we look out the windows of our lives to find hope in the future. Noah had hope the day he opened the window and released the raven, then the first dove. He didn’t lose hope when that dove returned to the boat. Seven days later he sent out another dove this time coming back with and olive leaf. Then, after seven more days, he released the dove and it never came back.

The window through which we see the world, the window that gives us hope, is the window of Jesus Christ. In Christ we have the hope of eternal life. In Christ we have the hope of abundant life now. There are times when we look through the window of Christ but life isn’t turning out the way we’d hoped. Noah didn’t give up when the raven didn’t return. We continue to discover hope as we look through the window of Jesus in spite of our struggles.

Whatever the weather outside your window, I hope you will look through the window and see the future God has for you.

Copyright Douglas P. Brauner