by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Victory Over Death

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

People living along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado have been living anxiously for the past week. The weather prognosticators have been predicting heavy snow.

The grocery stores have been jambed with people buying food and necessities for the next few days. Some people are preparing for feet of snow, and others for inches. There are people praying that the storm miss them altogether.

Each time I open my weather app, I’m greeted with the words, “Winter Storm Warning.” There is a good chance that when I wake up in the morning, I will be shoveling inches of snow, probably wet heavy snow, and continuing to shovel throughout tomorrow.

There is another storm on the horizon that I have become more aware of as I age, the storm of death. I’m not there yet. It’s still in the forecast, but unlike many weather predictions, this one is going to happen.

With the certainty of death, it’s funny how Solomon writes that death does not ride the road of the godly person.

“The way of the godly leads to life; that path does not lead to death.”
Proverbs 12:28 New Living Translation

Is this an eternal fountain of youth where somehow a godly person avoids death? If this is so, then there must not be any godly people living, otherwise we should be able to seek the wisdom of someone the age of Methuselah.

Through your faith in Jesus, you are godly! Make no mistake about it. He has declared you right before the Father, cleansing you of your sin. As you wander through Lent, it’s time to remember that the road of the godly leads to an empty tomb, to eternal life in the presence of the lamb. This is not a denial of physical death, but an affirmation that the road we walk is a road to life. The road you walk in Christ leads to eternity in his presence.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado