Month: January 2016

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Who Benefits from Our Hard Work Anyway?

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Through God’s grace, our work is meant to help others.

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

“So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say,
‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'”
Luke 17:10 English Standard Version

It wouldn’t surprise me if beavers work their tails off until the day they die. So, what’s their reward for building this dam? What is their reward for their hard work?

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Granted, this dam allows the stream to slow down so that they can build their home, but is that their reward?

Maybe it’s not their reward, but the benefits of this dam affect the rest of the ecosystem. Their dams slow down erosion, provide sill waters for other animals and establishes deep holes for fish to survive the winter.

Society devalues hard work, but even more prevalent is the idea that when I work, it is solely for my benefit. Have we forgotten how our hard work benefits others?

We have been graced by God through the sacrifice of Christ. It was for our benefit that he labored on this planet. We are graced by God that our lives might help others. God is calling us today to think no only about how our work keeps our homes running, but how our labor benefits others.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Number 0300

Cimarron, New Mexico

Our name will last forever in the heart of Jesus and in the Book of Life.

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

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments,
and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” 
Revelation 3:5 English Standard Version

No, this is not the three hundredth Praying With The Eyes devotional blog. I passed that number back in 2013. This bison is number 0300.

Cimarron, New Mexico
Cimarron, New Mexico

I thought about Photoshopping out the tag on the bison’s ear, but the more I thought about it the more I realize that the number is part of this buffalo’s story. He or she doesn’t have a name, it has a number. One day buffalo number 0300 will head to the slaughter-house and become food on someone’s table. That’s its destiny.

Maybe we feel that this is also our destiny. We feel that we’re being led to the slaughter-house, that we’ll end up forgotten. We might feel that all we are in the world is a Social Security number, a number that will disappear when we die. We might feel that we’re here merely to help someone else, a person who only knows us as a “number.”

We’re number 0300 at college.

We’re number 0300 at work.

We’re number 0300 at church.

Jesus is the lamb that was led to slaughter for us (Isaiah 53:7). He was rejected by people that we might not be reject by God. Jesus, through the Apostle John, goes so far to declare that our names are written in the Book of Life, that your name is written in the book of life. It is this Jesus who confesses our names before the Father.

We are not a number to Jesus. We are people for whom he died. We are people for whom he lives. Jesus will not forget our names. He will not forget your name.

Jesus used these words in John’s revelation to encourage us to remain faithful to him, the lamb led to slaughter. May we see beyond the number that the world gives us and hold on to the reality that Jesus knows us by name.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

The Community That Eats Together, Laughs Together

Acaguaque, Honduras

Great things can happen when people share a meal with each other.

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

This kitchen belongs to the pastor’s family in Acaguaque. There were a number of people gathered in this kitchen, all of them Honduran. There were no electrical lights, only the ambient light from outside and the glow of this wood burning stove.

Acaguaque, Honduras
Acaguaque, Honduras

I was the only English-speaking person in the room, so, instead of listening to what people said, I enjoyed the atmosphere created by the conversation.

Though I didn’t understand what they said (later I learned some of the conversation had to do with cooked snake meat which hung above the over), everyone talked and everyone laughed.

Doesn’t something like this happen often around food?

After Ezra read the Torah to the people who had returned from exile they wept, but Nehemiah encouraged the people to rejoice, and with their rejoicing, to eat.

“And Nehemiah continued, ‘Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!'”
Nehemiah 8:10 New Living Translation

May we, who have heard and believed the message of Jesus’ resurrection, celebrate Christ’s victory over death by eating with each other and sharing the abundance of what God has given us.

Good things happen around food.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner