Devotion.al

Feed Your Soul

  • Hope Fulfilled and Hope to Come

    Psalm 25:1-10, Jeremiah 33:14-16, Luke 21:25-36

    “…for you are the God of my …” Psalm 51:5

    “In those days and at that time, I will cause a Righteous Branch to sprout up for David, and he will administer and righteousness in the land.
    Jeremiah 33:15

    “…they will see the of Man coming in a cloud with power and great .”
    Luke 21:27

    . It’s a big for how small it looks. The Psalmist knows God is the source of his salvation, despite current circumstances. God’s words to Jeremiah provide for a hope that Jeremiah can guess he will not see, but they are still hope for the Israelites.

    Christmas is about hope. It is about Emmanuel, which means God with us. It is about God sending the Son down to us. Advent, however, is not just about Christmas, and the singular time that God became man. Advent also looks to the next time God returns…at the of the story.

    Advent, therefore, is about both the hope fulfilled for both Israelites and the of the world, and it is about the hope to come when Jesus returns. Hope is to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment. Hope was fulfilled when Jesus was born in a manger. We obtained hope through his on the cross and his resurrection. Then there is the expectation of the return of Jesus…more hope!

    1/KD) Why is hope important?

    2) Why do we easily think of the hope of Christmas, but not of the hope of Jesus’ return?

    3/KD) What is your hope this Christmas?

    4/KD) What is your hope a year from now?

  • 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.