by Rev Douglas Brauner

Our suffering proclaims Jesus’ cross.

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

This tree was alive on the morning of June 11, 2013, though probably stressed because of a lack of moisture. The Colorado Springs community was experiencing a severe dry spell on that day. Fire conditions were dangerous, with red flag warnings issued for Southern Colorado. At 1:00 pm the Black Forest Fire ignited, and at some point in the next few days this tree burst into flames and died. All that was left were the branches forming a skeletal cross in the deep Colorado blue sky.

Black Forest Regional Park, Colorado

Suffering, pain, and affliction have a way of revealing the cross in our lives.

What’s left for us when we face our mortality…when we come to grips with the fact that we are fragile?

“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.” 
Romans 6:6 New Living Translation

We experienced a fire when we came to faith in Jesus Christ. A fire consumed our old, sin-filled, selves. Sin is that infectious disease which caused our death. Our pride, our arrogance, and our self-feeding nature were nailed to Jesus’ cross. Because of this holy fire, what people see in us is the cross of Jesus.

Unlike this fire-killed tree, we receive life through the holy fire of God. There is nothing that can rob us of this life, not even our physical death.

Suffering, pain, and affliction are still a part of our lives. When the Holy Spirit brought us to faith in Jesus we didn’t automatically become free of sin’s effects. In fact Jesus tells us that we would experience another kind of suffering, a suffering for his name’s sake. Our troubles bring us back to Jesus, to his cross. They reveal to us that what matters most in life is not what we do, but what God has done for us.

May people see Jesus’ cross in you, and me.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado