HOPE

 

August 24, 2026

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.  Hebrews 10:23

My son’s feline child is named “Hope”.  She is a living, breathing, stalking dichotomy; she sleeps roughly 60 hours each day and for the other 12 minutes she is bouncing off every wall and door in our house.  The energy she stores up sleeping in the bay window seat comes out in the “zoomies”, mostly late at night when the rest of the semi-normal people are trying to sleep.  Hope’s energy rivals what you would find in an exploding star; she’s a feline super-nova telling the rest of the universe to get out of the way – this is MY moment, I’m unstoppable! A few weeks ago, our Sunday School class lesson was on servanthood.  Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that there is no other foundation (no other hope if you will) for God’s plans and work in the universe, than Jesus Christ[1]  With due respect to our feline resident’s delicate psyche’, she is not the real hope for humanity, even though she strongly believes so.

The word “hope” can be used in many ways.  One of those is to express a longing for something, such as, “I hope the mail comes early today.”  We might use the word to express a fear, such as, “I hope that noise I hear under my car’s hood won’t be expensive”.  (How’s that one working out for you?)  That kind of hope has two possibilities, positive or negative (that early mail might include a check!)  Hoping about that engine noise usually turns out less than positive in my experience.  But the hope in which we place our trust in Jesus Christ is not such an “iffy” thing that can go good or bad; rather it is more the expression of certainty.  When we’re certain of the outcome of what the future holds, we say something like, “you can take that to the bank” …or, “you can bet your life on that”.        There is no uncertainty when it comes to Christ’s love for us, or His forgiveness of our sins, or the power He has to extend eternal life.  He doesn’t just give us hope; He IS our hope.

As a pastor serving Jesus Christ, I have met too many people over the last half-century who have a “hope-so” answer to the question “Are you saved?”.  They have placed the weight of where they will spend eternity on a “hope” that has good and bad possibilities, and they’re longing for the good.  They hope they’ve done it ok, lived this life “right enough” so that God will take them to Heaven.  Frankly, that kind of hope (or faith) merely casts a shadow of doubt over God’s ability to forgive our sin and save us from sin’s penalty…death.  That doesn’t make sense; if Jesus died, was buried, and raised again on the third day so our sins can be forgiven, why the doubt?  Why believe Satan’s accusation that he whispers in your ear.  Something like: “Well, sure, God forgave that little white lie about your wife’s new hairstyle, and that one you said when she asked if that outfit made her look fat, but what is forgivable about the way you cheated that retired widow out of $20-grand for that worthless car you sold her?”

We confess such and then doubt.  And that isn’t even close to placing our trust in He who conquered sin and death.  He alone is our hope, the foundation of all God’s promises of Heaven

For You Today

When it comes to our hope and eternity, we can sit back and watch life go by at warp speed like my son’s cat doing her nightly zoomies, or we can sleep like that cat does through life, ignoring the threat of our human frailty passing into eternity.  Or we can place our faith, our life, past, present, and the eternity of our future in His strength – our only foundation, Jesus Christ, our HOPE.

I have it on irrefutable authority that your doubt is not the end of you, because Jesus died to take even that to the cross.  Do you recall one of Jesus’ disciples we call “doubting Thomas”?  One look at the risen Lord and he fell to his knees, and his faith was placed in the only hope the world, the universe, and your heart needs![2]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

1] Title and Other Images: Russell Brownworth photo.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The Christian Standard Bible^© 

Posted on Facebook Hope 

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[1] 1 Corinthians 3:11

[2] John 20:24-29

When Your Answers About Faith Bring More Questions Than Comfort

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.  Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us!  We’re going to drown!”  Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid?  You have so little faith!”  Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.  The disciples were amazed.  “Who is this man?” they asked.  “Even the winds and waves obey him!”  

Matthew 8:23-27

Among the disciples were fishermen like Peter, accustomed to storms, even the fierce ones.  They were familiar with violent storms which are not uncommon on the lake, as winds can rush in suddenly from the west or the east and generate waves over 10 feet high.[1]  If you fished the sea of Galilee, you learned not to stress over storms.  But this storm was more than enough to have the disciples wish they’d stayed ashore, or at least checked to see if their wills were up-to-date.  They thought they were on the brink of joining their buried ancestors. 

And there was their leader, Jesus, sleeping like a baby in the back of the boat.  What a time for a nap! 

Mark’s Gospel account showed how much this event overwhelmed him.  Normally Mark wrote just the facts…quick and to the point.  But of this Mark adds emphatic pathos, details of just how scared they were:

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.  The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”  Mark 4:38

From Matthew we get the sense of their faith – when they were at wits-end they went to the One they knew had answers.  From Mark, we get the sense of insecurity they had – did Jesus not care?  From both disciple’s accounts we see the answer…Jesus told the winds and 10-feet-high waves to HUSH!  And they did!  And Matthew records what that did to the disciples…Jesus’ answer brought more questions:  Who…and What…kind of man is this?

Perhaps you’ve been in that kind of situation.  You were in trouble, physically, emotionally, financially, or a relationship on the rocks.  You were drowning in some way, so you cried-out to God, and an answer showed up.  You were grateful for the rescue, but when the dust settled, all you could do was ruminate on the reasons why – why did this happen to you?  What – what was God thinking to put you through that?  When – when is life going to be normal?  How – how am I ever going to get to where I really want to be? 

It’s like the disciples experienced; Jesus had the answers, but they brought more questions than comfort.  They were uneasy enough to ask the question (what kind of man this is), but they did have that little spark of faith to row back to land, and put one foot in front of the other, and continue following Jesus. 

After the cross and resurrection, we find that faith grew into the power of God in their lives, which changed the course of history.  And being in the boat with the source of that power, on that night, with all nerves stretching their faith to the limit (and beyond), they knew it was real.

For You Today 

Today’s faith will be enough for today’s storms…as long as you stay in the boat with Jesus.  He’s a better weather-man than any you’ve seen on TV!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee, Copyright © 2020 by David P. Barrett. 

When You Are Not Sure

Monday, February 13, 2023

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  James 1:5-8

When it comes to difficult choices which harbor a nagging conflict, a strong pull on two (or more) sides, how can you be sure?  King Solomon had that on a scale none of us would ever want.  Two women were hauled before the king for a decision.  The infant child of one of them had died, and she was claiming it wasn’t hers, but the other woman’s, who was claiming it as her own.  What to do?  It’s a very familiar passage in 1 Kings 3.  Solomon calls for a sword and declares the child must be cut in two.  The real mother of the child is horror-stricken, and pleads for the child’s life…don’t kill the child…she can have him.  Only the real mother would give her child to another, if it meant life for the baby. 

End of story.  

But what of the backstory that explains how Solomon knew what to do?  The story before the story of the women with a dilemma, helps us understand how the king, with a child’s life in his hands, and an unknowable fact to be decided, uncovered truth.  It’s found in the prayer of a young, new king who felt overwhelmed:

“Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.  And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!  Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.  For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”  The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.  So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for!  I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have!  1 Kings 3:7-12

Recognizing his calling was too great, too demanding, and too important for relying only on his own strength, Solomon called on God to bless him with an understanding heart.  God responded to the open-mind and heart, with blessings of wisdom and great resources. 

He does that a lot!

For You Today  

Consider the warning of James, when you contemplate praying like Solomon for wisdom and understanding…you need not be certain about a lot of decisions you’ll need to make in life, but you must certainly be sure about the ONE whom you will trust to lead you through all of them.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Divided Mind  and  Difficult Choices 

Images:  Title via Wikimedia Commons   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Wondering About the Big Stuff

 

Friday, January 1, 2021

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Your glory is higher than the heavens.  You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.  When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?  Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.  O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Psalm 8:1-9^(NLT)

When you’re little the big questions always begin with “why”.  Children want to know why they can’t have that whole gallon of chocolate chip ice cream.  They want to know why they must go to bed now.  They want answers!

The questions usually expand with age and curiosity.  If the curiosity continues to grow, and never finds its home in faith, the questions tend to lead down the path to cynicism and despair…and more wrong answers. 

But if faith in the Creator leads anywhere at all, it always comes back to this basic question of WHY; why…me?  Why am I alive: what purpose does this life serve?

The cynics who have come up empty and devoid of faith will say there is no purpose; we are meaningless blobs of protoplasm that have managed to evolve and pollute the earth to the point where it will eventually fold us back into a tangled mess with all the other useless, meaningless beings of all time.  One day this planet will explode or implode; just choose your poison!  

Those who choose to believe this kind of nonsense will also find a way to make a complex answer to every other simple question like two plus two equals seventy-one, unless its Tuesday, in which case I want the answer to be different…I’ll let you know what that answer is if you will just be quiet about God.

But those who have taken the leap of faith will eventually arrive at a more meaningful discovery to the question of “why” – that answer is:  because…God! 

Going back to the beginning of human existence we find the answer to life’s most basic question:

So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them….Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  Genesis 1:27, 2:18^(NLT)

We are created in God’s image, with a hunger for relationship (the response God hardwired in each of us because He knew it is not good to be alone).  And since that is so, it is also true of the One in Whose image we are created.  This is the portal of understanding for every other question that begins with Why…? 

It takes faith (and a little common sense) to begin with the answer (God) and work back to where your questions live…but that’s the substance of things not seen; the evidence of things hoped for…that’s the magnificent path of discovery you’ll find when you ask God “why” like a Psalmist!

For You Today

If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable with not having the answers, try resting in the purpose for which God created you in the first place…relationship with Him!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy  Pixabay.com

[2] Hebrews 11:1^(NLT)

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on this text see Wondering About the Big Stuff - Part 2 and Wondering About the Big Stuff - Part 3  

This devotion first appeared on Rocky Road Devotions Friday, August 28, 2017

 

What Else?

 

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Someone came to Jesus with this question:  “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  “Why ask me about what is good?”  Jesus replied.  “There is only One who is good.  But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”  “Which ones?” the man asked.  And Jesus replied:  “‘You must not murder.  You must not commit adultery.  You must not steal.  You must not testify falsely.  Honor your father and mother.  Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied.  “What else must I do?”  Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”  But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.  Matthew 19:16-22

Matthew, Jesus’ tax collector – turned disciple/apostle, knew what it was to keep the scorecard.  He knew about adding up the debits and credits to balance the score.  If Matthew wasn’t telling his own story, it might as well have been his; he was a Jew collecting the Roman Emperor’s taxes from his fellow Jews.  Matthew knew what it was to have power, riches, and prominence.  He also knew what corruptive possibilities come with each, and the weight of being an outcast among your own people. 

This story was also recorded by Mark and Luke.[1]  It must have been hardest for Matthew to see this young man walk away from Jesus.  Knowing the allure of piling-up money to keep you free of the cares of everyday living costs, and the fear of returning to poverty, must have reminded the former mover and shaker of what used to be so important.  That was a stark reminder of what he used to be, and a powerful contrast to what he’d become.  The requirement of entering the surrendered life of following Jesus without reserve is no small thing.

Another, somewhat different take on the rich young man who chose his 401K over Jesus’ offer of eternal riches, is that he really wasn’t serious about the question he asked.  He may have been serious, but what if he was only looking for Jesus to sign his report card?  What if the young man was saying to Jesus, I’ve listened to your preaching these past several months, all that stuff about being perfect.  Look here at my life; I’ve not murdered, stolen, or told lies.  I take care of my parents who are aged and can’t support themselves.  What else?  What else do I have to do to be ‘good’ with God? 

But perhaps the man had listened to Jesus’ sermon on the mount (which Matthew also recorded[2]), and maybe it had somehow gotten in his head that he might have missed something.  That preacher/prophet had even said it loud and clear, those who followed him must be perfect, even as Jehovah in Heaven was perfect.[3]  The rich young ruler’s question may have been driven by sleepless nights, trying to convince himself that he was already a good man, having lived a moral life.  He’d always tried to do everything right.  What else?  Did I leave anything out? 

There is almost a passive anger about the question; who is this preacher, anyway?  He doesn’t know me; he has no idea the pressures I face every day.  I gotta talk to this guy; I’ll show him how I’ve lived a good life.  Surely that’s enough, even for God. 

And so, the young man did just that.  And the question came out, What else?  And then the answer came out…everything…everything that’s standing in your way of truly worshipping God…that’s what else!

Jesus knew the man’s net worth was what mattered most, and, therefore, the biggest obstacle to this man’s eternal life.  The doctor from Nazareth wrote the prescription, give away that which will eventually rust and rot and have no value…then bring the only eternal thing you really have and let me light it up with eternal life and joy.

Unfortunately, the rich young ruler, accustomed to wheeling and dealing in the financial big leagues couldn’t see the best opportunity he’d ever encountered.  

For You Today

The word for us today is…take Jesus at his word…it’s a sad thing to walk away from eternal life and joy for a little more of what this world thinks is best.  Lord, save us from having to ask the question, What else?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image:  Pixabay.com   W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on this text see:  I Can't Get No Satisfaction and Choosing

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[1] Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-25

[2] Matthew 5-7

[3] But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.      Matthew 5:48

 

Whatever I Am Now

Monday, April 20, 2020

Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before.  You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.     It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.  I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me.  Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.  He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.  He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.  After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.  Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.  Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.  For I am the least of all the apostles.  In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.  But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results.  For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.  So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.  1 Corinthians 15:1-11 

There are some settled principles in life upon which you can count; one of those is hindsight.  For the early part of Saul’s life, he had a settled conviction that the followers of Jesus were misguided (at least) and (at worst) evil, cultish devils, and they had to be stopped.  Saul did his best to accomplish that goal, until one day amid his frenzied push to rid the earth of any Christianity, he met their namesake on the road to Damascus.  Saul got a name-change to Paul; more importantly he got a heart-change from hard to compassionate, and a mind-change from hatred to accepting the love of God.  In our hindsight we see this as that whatever I am now Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians.  He was what God made of him.

You have probably experienced that in your life, and hopefully in your walk with Christ.  As I look back on my life, ministry, relationships, and development as a human being, I’m more convinced of seeing the hand of God guiding me into whatever I am now.  Somehow that makes some of the hardships endured in this process we call life, circumstances, joys, and strength to endure with joy, an absolute amazement to me.

Paul mentioned one thing to the Corinthian believers that used to make me tremble.  He pointed to their faith as what they believed when he first preached the Gospel to them, and then wrote:

You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.  It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you-unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.

Honestly, what used to worry me about that is the fear of believing something that isn’t true, staking my life and eternity on a fairy tale, and having it blow up in the end.  And so, the question that gets begged is:

Russell, why doesn’t it still worry you?

And the answer is Paul’s whatever I am now.  Paul could look back at every step of his journey in Christ and sense the guiding hand of that which is bigger, and outside of himself.  He had experienced the power of God moving his life and destiny.  And, at this point, doubt in the garden of his life had been treated with the weed and feed of faith.

When dealing with the weeds of doubt becomes your daily discipline of strengthening your faith with God’s Word, prayer, and submission to God’s will, you will not have a weak faith, and that makes for a strong warrior-tool in God’s hands.

For You Today

When doubt (as the chief tool in Satan’s arsenal) rises in you, as to God’s care, or even His love and guidance, do what the old English proverb suggests:

Fear knocked at the door.  Faith answered.  No one was there.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day! 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on 1 Corinthians 15 see Just As the Scripture Said