Month: March 2017

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Take a Load Off

Rest for the Soul.

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

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Jeremiah 6:16, New International Version

A Hummingbird cannot sit still for long. Its metabolism requires an almost constant quest for food. This little guy seems to be looking for direction. I don’t know if he was at a crossroads. I know that most days we are at a crossroads, whether we realize it or not. We have a continual banquet of choices to make: things we can do; things we can say; things that can occupy our thoughts.

Jeremiah’s phrase ‘the ancient paths’ has always captured my imagination. He uses it in chapter 18 (I’ll let you find the exact verse). I am reminded of the paths of Eden, where the Lord walked with Adam and Eve before the Fall. He walked those paths immediately after the Fall as well, but Adam and Eve were hiding.

We are invited by our God to walk the ancient paths — to walk the Way in the company of the one who is the Way, and the Truth and the Life. The promise of Jeremiah is that you will find rest for your souls. That is the nature of the ancient paths. That is the character of the Way. We journey to find rest, rest for the soul.

We do not need to wait for heaven to know such a rest. We remember the often-quoted words of Augustine: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” God’s wisdom was to give us a Sabbath — a day of rest to practice Jeremiah’s advice. The everlasting paths of God’s garden are available to us in Jesus. The one who was mistaken on Easter for a gardener has prepared straight paths for us. They lead straight to the Father’s heart. They are paths of compassion, hope, peace, joy, and rest.

Where are your feet taking you today? There is an ancient way that beckons.

Text and picture copyright Don Schatz

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Begging

Will you rescue me?

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

“What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Romans 7:24-25

There she is again! Our dog, Jenny, begging for scraps at the supper table. Perhaps she is thinking, “If I just look attentive enough, cute enough or long enough…Steve will give me something!”

Jesus once compared Gentile sinners to dogs at the table, begging for scraps. Not a complimentary way of thinking about yourself, but so very true! When you and I come to God’s banqueting table we bring no bargaining power, no righteousness. No, you and I come as beggars, asking for mercy from a holy God.

You and I find ourselves in a wretched state, unable to rid ourselves of our sin, and powerless to save ourselves. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ!” You and I come as beggars with nothing in our hands (or paws), and out of God’s mercy and love He sends the Rescuer, the Lord Jesus. He died for me, not because of my cuteness, cleverness, or talent, but out of His great love.

Do you come this day with open hands to your Lord and Savior? Do you come as a beggar before Him, imploring Him of His grace to save you? Do not be afraid. Jesus will not turn you away. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us! “Come unto Me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest…”

“Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O, Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

Text and Picture Copyright Steve Nickodemus

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Open, Not Shut

Lent in the Shadow of the New Jerusalem.

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

“On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.”
Revelation 21:25, New International Version

Still in Lent, it may seem odd to look ahead to John’s vision of the Temple in the New Jerusalem. But remember, this is a Sunday and the Sundays in Lent are not part of Lent. It’s a technicality, I know, but I’m employing it anyway. Regardless, I am convinced that we cannot experience our Lenten journey in a vacuum. Not a Biblical vacuum. Not a spiritual vacuum. Not a faith-and-knowledge vacuum. Certainly, we cannot experience our Lenten journey in a Revelation vacuum.

Our God is not a good secret-keeper. We may think so occasionally, but that is usually a matter of our inability to see and understand. He tells us there is a mystery, and then he tells us what the mystery is! Jesus, God’s not-so-mysterious mystery. Our Jesus. Our Lenten Jesus, whose footsteps we are tracing once again.

To what end are we following Jesus? Misery, not mystery? To kneel in sackcloth and ashes and so feel righteous? Are we following him to lamentation and despair? Your clamorous “NO” rings loud in my ears as I write this, before you read these words.

We follow Jesus on the Lenten road, eventually to be led once again by ancient Sisters and Mothers to an empty tomb. The stone was rolled away. Not even the grave is shut to the Revelation of God’s intentions for us in, and through, his Christ. Not even our grave is shut — although it is still before us, this is already true. As one who battles depression and depressive manners of thinking and responding to the world and life in it, these truths are precious. I hope they are every bit as precious to you.

Nothing about our God is shut to you. And since we are children of God, sisters and brothers of his (and our) Christ, nothing about us is shut either. Are you closed up today? Shut in by your own devices? Remember your Lenten journey’s inevitable end—see through the open door to the heart of God, beating for you.

Text and picture copyright Don Schatz