by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Beauty in Our Complexity

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

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous– how well I know it.”
Psalm 139:14 New Living Translation

People wonder why I shoot more black and white than color pictures. Part of the reason is because black and white film is cheaper than color film. It’s also more plentiful than color. Though these reasons have weight, the most important reason relates to what black and white pictures do.

Black and white pictures reveal complexity. They highlight contrast, texture, and details.

Black and white pictures reflect the human soul. You see something different in a person when you look at a black and white image than in a color portrait. There’s no hiding in a black and white picture.

Standing before the word of God can often feel like having a black and white portrait taken of our lives. There’s no hiding our imperfections, our sin. Because of our sin, it’s hard for us to see ourselves as King David saw himself; “wonderfully complex” because of God’s creative hand. God’s word often reveals where we have fallen short of his expectations.

However, we are not only complex because of our sin, we are also wonderfully complex because of redemption. Reflected in our lives are not just our failures, but the reality that we have been hand-fashioned by God and redeemed by Jesus’ sacrifice. God’s mercy in Jesus has penetrated the core of who we are. Standing before the word of God we not only see our imperfection, but the reality of our redemption in the blood of Jesus. His redemption is more powerful than our failures.

The textures, contrasts, and details of our lives have been affected for all eternity by the One through whom we are made, the One in whom we are redeemed.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado