Month: February 2017

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Wearing White is IN

The blood of Jesus transforms our winter clothes of sin.

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

This field is full of weeds and wild growth—a rather useless piece of land. During much of the winter it is even worse—brown and dry and rather ugly. But on this day it is amazingly impressive. The white coating of frost makes even the brownest, useless and most reviled objects beautiful.

The clothes of our sinful nature, like a dry winter, are dark and ugly. Happily, when Jesus died for us our sin-stained robes and disheveled lives changed. Forgiveness and hope entered the world.  We approach the throne of grace and cry out to God,

“Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7 New Living Translation

The blood of the Lamb dressed in white washes over us and bleaches our filthy garments, making them the cleanest white imaginable.

“They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.”
Revelation 3:4-5 New Living Translation

Oh the joy of being clothed in white with Jesus for all eternity!

Copyright text and photo Desiree Bustamante

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Following Jesus

A Reordered Life.

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

“Jesus replied, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  
Matthew 8:20; New International Version

Bird nests are remarkable constructions to me.  Woven together out of bits and pieces of this and that, they cradle eggs and young, and provide a safe place to grow to maturity.  We watched in wonder as this hummingbird, and her miniature baby, rode out some pretty strong coastal winds, just outside our kitchen window.

When one considers that God himself spoke the words of Matthew 8:20, it is even more remarkable.  The ‘emptying himself’ theology of the person and work of Jesus included the imagery of this statement.  Jesus had a ‘base of operations’ in Capernaum.  He had friends and family.  Peter, Andrew, James and John appear to have had houses in or around Capernaum.  Mary, Martha and Lazarus would have given him a bed, right?

In context, Jesus’ words actually appear to be more directed at us, through the person of a teacher of the law who, apparently convicted by Jesus’ proclamation, came to him and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  “You might be surprised to learn where I am going,” Jesus responded — if I may be permitted a free hand at paraphrasing.  Speaking of a paraphrase, Eugene Peterson in The Message, showing that he also understands Christ in this way, has Jesus say: “Are you ready to rough it?  We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”

What it means for you to follow Jesus in this context will be different from what it means for me.  Regardless, the common invitation from Jesus is to follow him into a reordering of what is important, what gives meaning.  It is a reordering of how we see one another, how we treat the neighbor.  It is a reordering of how we can now see God himself—freed from the constraints of our presumptions.

Live for and love Jesus where your nest is located.  He is there with you.

Text and picture, copyright Don Schatz

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

The Shadow Knows

Safe in the Shadow of the Almighty.

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

Today is Groundhog Day.  The legend says that if it is cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its burrow today in Punxsutawney, PA, then spring will arrive early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its den, and winter will persist for six more weeks. I don’t know how accurate the groundhog is in most of the country, but in Colorado we usually have at least six more weeks of winter no matter the outcome of the Groundhog Day tradition.

We are familiar with our shadow and the way it changes depending on how much the sun is shining and the direction of sunlight. Shadows are much longer in the early morning and evening as the sun rises and sets, and short and barely noticeable at noon when the sun is highest in the sky. Scripture says our lives are like shadows—fleeting and fading—without much hope, like six more weeks of winter. But God casts a protective, loving shadow over us. When King David was surrounded by his enemies he prayed this in one of his Psalms—

“Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.”
Psalm 57:1 New Living Translation

If we trust God and take refuge in Him, no earthly shadow will doom us to a long and harsh winter alone. We can be safe in His shadow.

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Psalm 91:1 New Living Translation

“How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.”
Psalm 36:7 New Living Translation

Whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow today, we know we have a God who loves us and protects us in the spring and winter of our lives.

Copyright text and photo Desiree Bustamante