Month: December 2015

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Hope for the Lost

Mt. Sherman, Colorado

God has a search and rescue team to find us when we’re lost.

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

 “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
and a light for my path.”
Psalm 119:105 New Living Translation

You’d think that it would be easy to reach the summit of a 14er; just keep climbing and when you can’t climb any higher, you’ve reached the summit. That sounds good but it isn’t that easy. In fact, when everything looks the same, as it does above timberline, it’s easy to get lost and disoriented.

Mt. Sherman, Colorado
Mt. Sherman, Colorado

Rock cairns like these keep you pointed in the right direction.

Life shouldn’t be hard, right?  Just keep climbing. The problem is that sin points us in the wrong direction and eventually we find ourselves trapped. We’d like to believe that we don’t need help to live, but such is not the case. Every time we try to play god we end up in the wrong place.

Given that we end up in the wrong place, we can (and probably will) do the wrong thing. So instead of reaching the summit we end up in the pit of despair or some other place of desperation. We’d love to blame God for our problems, but we are responsible for ignoring the “cairns” of his Word. He doesn’t force us to follow his path.  He invites us.

The good news? There is no better search and rescue team than God’s Spirit. And there’s no pit so deep that the cross of Christ can’t reach us.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Hope for the Barren

Vail, Colorado

We have hope because the end of our story is guaranteed.

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

Many of the mountain communities of Colorado display amazing sculptures. Vail is one of those communities.  It is possible to spend an entire day traveling though the city viewing these sculptures.

Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado

This sculpture of a mother and child caught my attention. As with all good pieces of art, there is a story in this sculpted bronze. What you see in this mother and child, what I see, and even what the artist depicts might be different from each other, yet there is a story told for all of us.

Psalm 113 reflects the story I see in this mother and child:

“The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens…
He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!”
Psalm 113:4,9 English Standard Version

The Bible tells stories of barren women whom God graces with children. Sarah, Rachel and Hannah come to mind. Through this picture of barrenness God gives us hope when hope is absent.

God’s story for sinful human creatures is ultimately a story of hope. God used barren women to advance his plan of salvation for all humanity showing us that hope is not something we create, but a gift from God.

Our hope is rooted in Jesus. I’m not promising that God is going to make everything turn out wonderful for you this side of eternity, but the end of the story is guaranteed. The gift of heaven is a present day reality that we will one day fully experience.

We many not shake the dust of barrenness from our lives here, but the day is coming when God’s salvation will make us joyous.

I pray that you taste this joy today!

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Hope for the Needy

Colorado Springs, Colorado

God’s grace and mercy extend to all through Christ.

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

“For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.”
Psalm 9:18 English Standard Version

The words, “He’s so needy!” come quickly off our lips. We call these folks extra-grace-required people (EGRs). They are the people that we tend to avoid. We’re ready to give them food, money, and clothes but not our time. And God forbid that we’d have any personal contact with them.

Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado

God doesn’t avoid the EGRs.

We Christians need to grasp that God uses us to reach those who are poor and needy. It’s not the primary role of our government but it is our primary obligation. We are the hands, feet, eyes, and ears of hope for those who are needy and poor.

At some level all of us are needy. Sin is the culprit. We might not live on the streets or sleep in a shelter but we are needy. It is a part of our human condition that we share with everyone. It is because of this human condition that Jesus took on our flesh and blood and was fastened to a tree in death. Every human creature is an EGR person.  And in his super abundance of grace God reaches out to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And he reaches out to us with this grace through other Christians. There is hope for needy.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner