Devotion.al

Feed Your Soul

  • Beyond Hope

    Luke:1:46b-55, James 5:7-10, Hebrews 12:1-2

    Mary’s song/poem of praise is often called the Magnificat in the Protestant/Roman Catholic , or the Ode of the Theotokos (Bearer of God) in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is a joy-filled response to God by Mary that appears to be a response to Elizabeth’s joy-filled pronouncement of the Sprit-filled joy of John the Baptist (in utero, of all things) to hearing the of the Mother of God (Jesus).

    The double-meaning of Mary’s praise of “…my spirit rejoices in God my savior…” is the Jewish understanding of God (the ) as the savior of their people, along side the coming salvation of Jew and Gentile through the death of Jesus (God the Son). There is the reality of God as past, present and savior.

    The Jews knew many experiences of God as savior. The for the coming Messiah was built upon an understanding of a God that was faithful and would fulfill promises made.

    As a Jew, James had the same Jewish understanding as pregnant Mary, and he had seen fulfillment of the Messiah’s coming and salvation. Now James is passing the on. It is the expectation based upon God’s that the Messiah will come again and the hope that remains strong in the face of adversity.

    In Hebrews, the author notes that Jesus went to the cross joyfully, not because Jesus was looking to the pain, anguish, betrayal and death. Jesus was looking beyond the cross, beyond the grave, and even beyond the . The author notes that Jesus’ prize was the throne of God. Though the author doesn’t say it here, the other prize was you and me before the throne of God, not in fear of judgement, but as Children of the Most High God.

    Elsewhere, the author of Hebrews notes that Jesus, our Savior, is continually interceding on our behalf and for all eternity. No matter how you feel about yourself being , it doesn’t matter. As shirts and bumper stickers read, “I may not be perfect, but Jesus thinks I’m to die for.” That is our hope and joy.

    1) Are hope and joy the same thing?

    2) Why are having hope and joy important for a Christian?

    3) Why is it important to look at the Old Testament in regards to salvation?

    KD) Why does the author of Hebrews compare faith to running a race?

  • How to Come Back

    How to Come Back

    1 Corinthians 11:17–33 It’s almost over it seems. The time of being masked and constrained nears its end. On the other hand, already another strain of COVID is showing up, but the reality is that we, as an entire world, are at our limits. It seems great that we’re almost there, except that we really…

  • Future Tensely

    Future Tensely

    Psalm 126; Isaiah 40:1-11; Romans 8:22-25 Have you realized that Advent is weird? I love Advent, don’t get me wrong. However, the world has done a successful job of retraining us on what Advent is all about. Partially, I think, this is because of the image of an unthreatening baby Jesus with lambs, other baby…

  • Seeing Christ In The Lives of Others

    Romans 12:16–21 As part of our college ministry many years ago, we asked our college students to come up with their mission statement. It was coached in a business/organization language; it should have been better phrased as a Rule of Life. Mine was: Seeing Christ in the Lives of Others. Yes, the title was my…

  • A Movement: Of Priest and Temple

    A Movement: Of Priest and Temple

    …if we…focus too much on the outside, the temple comes crumbling down, for the internal structure cannot hold up the facade shown to the world, and we then dishonor God by our fallen temple.