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

The Faith of an...OUTSIDER

 

Friday, August 21, 2026

When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.  Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.” Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”  He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!” He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.  Matthew 15:21-28^(CSB)

I know what it’s like to be an outsider, looking in.  As a young man I dated a beautiful girl in my high school class.  Her family was of Italian descent, and it was large.  Her mother was the oldest of 13 children!  THIRTEEN!  My family was miniscule by comparison.  Even I the 1960’s ethnic lines were important.  I later compounded my crossing of those lines by marrying that beautiful girl…in a Methodist church!  I eventually confirmed every doubt and fear held by her family that an outsider had stolen an Italian princess by moving our little “mixed” family a thousand miles away to the strange land of rural Florida, and joining a Baptist Church…light years removed from the religious tradition of my bride’s heritage, which was connected to the Vatican in Rome.

I can identify closely with the Gentile woman who approached the Jewish rabbi, Jesus; it was more than awkward; in Jewish culture it was an affront to every accepted and deeply held rule of propriety.  Likewise, in 1965, New York Italian girls did not bring non-Italian boys home to meet the family!  If they did, there was that risk of being branded with a Scarlet Letter.  (There was also some not so tongue-in-cheek tales told of non-Italian boys disappearing…something about trunks of big black cars and cement shoes).

Needless to say, I always felt like something of an oddity on display at Elizabeth’s family gatherings; kind of Ripley’s Believe-it-or-Not non-Roman freak show.  Elizabeth’s cousins were like Jesus’ disciples encouraging Him to send the Gentile woman away; she just didn’t belong!

What is an Outsider to do?

Well, like the woman Matthew (the tax-collecting Jew/outsider extreme) wrote about this Gentile woman…keep the faith and press-on!

For You Today

So, are you living the “outsider life”?  Maybe this postscript of my experience with outsider-ship will help.  My move wasn’t just a thousand miles away, it brought me to a calling, into the pulpit.  Twenty years later, as Elizabeth’s mother, Sofie, lay dying, it was the outsider she called to her bedside.  She wanted me to read Scripture to her and pray for her…and share comforting words of faith and hope. 

Sometimes, when faith in Christ is held dearer than the next breath, an outsider will find himself at the table with much more than crumbs!

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

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors  and Heart Image by DesignByDessie

[1] Title Image by Daniel R from PixabayUnless noted, Scripture quoted from Christian Standard Bible^©    

Three Angels

Friday, November 24, 2023

And I saw another angel flying through the sky, carrying the eternal Good News to proclaim to the people who belong to this world—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  “Fear God,” he shouted.  “Give glory to him.  For the time has come when he will sit as judge.  Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all the springs of water.”  Then another angel followed him through the sky, shouting, “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen—because she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her passionate immorality.”  Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger.  It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath.  And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”  Revelation 14:6-11

Understanding human behavior isn’t simple.  Long ago I learned that the arts reflect humanity, and humanity is influenced by the arts.  An artistically-gifted young man sees a violent act and he reacts to his shock and fear by painting a violent scene in dark mode on the side of some building.  The young artist hopes all who pass-by will be shocked by his four-color screaming.  The shadow lurking behind that hope is to move others to action, to prevent more violence.  Unfortunately the artist’s work isn’t always understood, particularly by the naïve, or those ill-equipped to grasp the art’s intended response.  The art unintentionally  influences human behavior, and creates more violence.

Anyone who has looked at a baby child’s face knows we are born with a hopeful sense of wonder and optimism.  Then comes hunger and diaper-rash, followed by crankiness and sleepless parents.  Those difficult things we experience mold us into the characters we become, entirely different from our Creator’s perfect design.  We have been created to appreciate beauty, warmth, and pleasure; our world, steeped in the ugly darkness of cold hearts, selfishness, and death paints a very different picture.  And the contrast is frightening.  But it’s complicated further when the darkness parades itself as light.  Drugs give pleasure…for a season, but we know how that turns out; the same with alcohol, lust, greed, anger, and on through the seven deadly sins.

In a way, we humans in our sinful behavior, have created a humanity in darkness on the canvas of history…our own screaming fear.  As today’s text so graphically-illustrates, God reacts with judgment to our collective darkness.  Judgment comes via God’s servants, angels who pour-out justice in God’s name.

I do not want to make this canvass any darker than Scripture has painted; indeed, I couldn’t.  This burning with fire and sulfur, night and day, for eternity, without let-up, is darkness of the ultimate kind, absent of any hope.  It is so dark many people won’t believe it could happen.  You’ve known them; perhaps you’ve even said it yourself – a good God wouldn’t send people to a place like that to suffer.  But the evidence is contrary – if God is good, there must be judgment like that.  Otherwise the suffering of those who humbly worship God would be a farce.  The cross would be murder, and resurrection a fairy tale.  There are only two possible choices – God is either true, and Jesus died for sin, rose from the grave, and will come again to judge those who do not believe – or God is a lie, and doesn’t exist.

For You Today 

The challenge for every human of every era in history, present, or future, is to believe or reject.  How say you?

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 library.

Today’s title Image from Wikimedia Commons  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Hope Secured

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Then I heard a mighty voice from the Temple say to the seven angels, “Go your ways and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.”  So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl on the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.  Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse.  And everything in the sea died.  Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood.  And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, “You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments.  Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink.  It is their just reward.”  And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”  Revelation 16:1-7

The last several days we’ve looked at our hope in Jesus Christ.  Hope, as a noun or verb, is an expectation; we either expect something will happen, or want it to happen.  This is the perspective of our last three devotions, hope anew, hope renewed, and hope shared.  These are matters of faith, as we place our faith in Christ, have it renewed through this life of trials and fears, and as we share faith’s hope with others. 

In today’s passage, we step from faith in this life, to fulfillment of our hope, the consummation of God’s promises, as He pours judgment on evil in the truest and most just of recompense.  Angels, in perfect obedience to the Father, pour out the stored reprisal of every evil thought, or brutal deed.  Those who have rejected Christ and God’s offer of forgiveness meet the horror of God’s wrath.

Those who mock God in this life caricaturize any mention of Judgment Day, or sin, or any allusion to God’s authority as “fairy tales” or a naïvely ignorant, preacher’s manipulation.  But in that day, when the hope of the faithful shall become sight, all will see His glory.  Those who refuse to bend a knee now will have no choice but to kneel then!  Apostle Paul wrote:

…for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.  Romans 14:10b-12^(KJV)

In that day there will be no excuses, for even those who, in their unbelief, mock and profane the name of God will see Christ and His Father, who by the Holy Spirit unveils the glory of Heaven…and they will fall to their knees and confess that He alone is God.  Those who have chosen in this life to deny Jesus, the hope of God’s glory, will in that day have their choice granted…eternally…in the lake of fire.  That is a sad, but solemn part of our hope in Jesus Christ; he will right every wrong against God, and reward every sacrificial service or suffering in the name of Jesus.  God will not do this lightly or with any degree of spite or enjoyment.  But the ultimate character of God is to be holy, and entirely righteous.  And in that holy righteousness, God will judge sin.  Those who have trusted in Christ will be gathered like a hen gathers her chicks, or a mother bear protects her cubs.  Those who have trusted in themselves, refusing Christ’s offer of forgiveness and eternal life, will experience an eternal death without God.

For You Today 

A preacher friend of mine once summed-up God’s offer to be saved from our sinful wickedness.  He said:  The wages of sin is death[1] and those wages must be paid.  We can let Jesus’ death on the cross pay for our sin now, or we can pay for them later when we stand before God at the judgment seat!  My friend was telling it like it is.  Trust God, place your faith in the secure hope of Christ!

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 library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Romans 6:23

A Little On the Dumb Side!

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff.  Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.  Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, where I meet with you.  Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose.  Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”  So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff.  Moses placed the staffs in the Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant.  When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!  When Moses brought all the staffs out from the Lord’s presence, he showed them to the people.  Each man claimed his own staff.  And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels.  This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.”  So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.  Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed!  We are dead!  We are ruined!  Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies.  Are we all doomed to die?”  Numbers 17:1-13

If there is one consistent theme in Scripture about the people of God it’s their inconsistency (with a few notable exceptions).  It’s like that New Year’s resolution you make about eating less, working-out more, and avoiding driving past Krispy Kreme; the vow lasts until the next temptation arrives.  And so it goes.

The next temptation for Israel was always grumbling about the way they were led; the target of their grumbling was all about the leader, Moses, a humble man. But over and again God had demonstrated Moses was the leader.  Even with a dead stick budding, blooming, and producing ripe almonds, all in the space of one night[1], demonstrating God’s leadership choice, God’s gracious miracle only produced fear in the hearts of the people.  And fear will destroy any faith!

Such is the point of this account.  Time after time God’s people were in a crisis and God rescued them from danger; each time there was immediate relief, but the return to fear and grumbling (with its accompanying unbelief, or lack of faith) arrived within nanoseconds. 

And so it goes…even today.

This problem is not a particularly Jewish thing; it’s endemic to humanity.  It started with the first sin in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve took a bite, realized their separation from God, heard the Lord approaching, and they hid!  They hid because of their shame, knowing (as fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil suggests), that they were now less than they were created to be, and had separated themselves from God.  And what were they hiding from?  The Lord, the solution to their problem.  And what did they do about it when busted for their sins?  They offered excuses trying to deflect their responsibility to others:

      Eve:  The serpent tricked me 

      Adam:  Lord, the woman YOU made, gave me that bite.  And so it goes.

For You Today 

The question of the day (and of the ages) is…when we’ve seen how that worked-out for Adam and Eve, why do we join them in that foolishness?  All it produces is more fear and grumbling.  When fear arises, it kills your faith.  Wouldn’t it save a myriad of trouble and heartache to live in faith, and let it destroy your fears?

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 library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] It takes one year after a bush has matured (3-4 years) to produce the first crop – see Nav Athwal article Forbes

Good Times - Bad Times

Monday, October 23, 2023

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.  My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.  I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.  Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!  I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.  You satisfy me more than the richest feast.  I will praise you with songs of joy.  I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.  Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.  I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.  

Psalm 63:1-8

If you’ve lived three minutes on this planet you know there is a raging war which cannot be seen.  The battlefield is within, and the fighting is intense every day.  Like the results of a physical conflict, you can see the results of the mental and spiritual battle:  deep furrowed lines on faces, matching the hollowed, empty eyes staring at nothing in particular.  Substances, meant to relieve pain caused by the struggle, have replaced the inner determination to keep breathing, marching, or thinking.  It is survival mode; it is not pretty, a void-like existence…not living. 

There are enough personal stories to illustrate that struggle; we need not point a finger at anyone to understand the reality of abyss-darkness, the place where those who enter must, as Dante penned it, abandon all hope. 

All humans experience fear, loneliness, heartbreak, and grief.  In that internal pain, we tend to dwell on the worst-case scenario…the place where we find ourselves beyond hope, with only the memory of past “good times”.  The memory of “bad times” in the past, drag with them the dread they’ll return.  Strains of the song Never Again play in our head, an unspoken vow of “doing better”.

King David knew, perhaps on the most intense level, both privately and publicly, the heights and depths of both good and bad “times”.  He was a national hero in Jerusalem, favorite to the king, hated and hunted by the same king.  He won battles often, and failed the simple choice of faithfulness, enough to lose a kingdom.  David had known hero and zero in his life, the products of wisdom and foolishness.  He’d been up and down, in and out, and understood the fact that power, riches, pleasure, and pride were (as his son, Solomon would later write[1]) vanity…empty…a languishing, disappearing vapor of hope-turned to despair. 

Now, if this sounds unfamiliar, like it only happens to other people, just hold on; you’re not smarter than Solomon, or better looking and popular than David.  You’ve just not lived long enough, or sinned big enough…yet.  When that time gets here, you don’t have to email or text me about what to do.  David’s inner thoughts, and what he did, how he prayed, and how he depended on God are wiser, better, and stronger than any advice I’d have.  All I would do – all I could do is point you to Psalm 63, and say:  Do what he said!

For You Today 

So-called good times and bad times are part of the human experience. Each person must deal with pain, and enjoy what pleasure God gives us, and leave the balancing of it to Heaven’s lovingkindness and grace.

If you have just come through a night when all you could do is lay awake, opening the painful wounds of your heart to God with tears and that old friend of a question on your mind…WHY, God….Why?...then you’re not far from the kingdom, my friend.  Keep asking, seeking, knocking…His care is near; He’s got you, and His grip is secure!

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 library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”  Ecclesiastes 1:2

Leading By Circular Logic

Friday, October 20, 2023

And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches.  I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ.  And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world.  As a fellow elder, I appeal to you:  Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you.  Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.  Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.  And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.  In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders.  And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  1 Peter 5:1-5

Apostle Peter addresses elders, leaders in God’s church, with instruction on how to lead.  This instruction is mostly about the attitude of a leader.  Note the words the big fisherman uses about the tenderness with which a church leader leads the flock entrusted to him:  care…watch over…lead by example.  And then Peter closes the door on the matter with the fact that humility covers all of it.

There are two caveats we must add to this leadership seminar of Peter’s:

1.    Leaders cannot lead this way unless followers follow this way.

2.    True followers will follow if leaders lead this way.

Every instruction God ever gave is predicated on the truth of God’s creation.  Those upon whom God places His call to lead in the church must respond to God’s call by leading selflessly, caring for the flock without pursuing personal gain.  Those who follow must respond, expecting to follow.  It’s a form of “circular logic” and requires trust (faith) in all directions.

Circular logic (or circular reasoning) is most often defined in a pejorative, or belittling sense.  With those for whom logic is the only acceptable pathway, the idea of faith must never cloud the issue.  That person would say about God, prove to me that God exists.  Believers answer that without faith (defined as a blind-leap without proof) it is impossible.  But if you believe (trust) He is real, you will have all the proof you need.  Another way to express that is from the atheist view:

An atheist says:  I won’t believe in God until I see Him.

A believer responds:  You’ll never see Him until you believe.

This same issue is true in the Leader/Follower issue Peter presented in his epistle:

Skeptical Christian:  I won’t trust or follow unless that leader is proven worthy

God’s Word replies: Have faith and by your faith I’ll make that leader worthy.

For You Today 

Is faith a form of circular logic? 

Absolutely!  

It begins with:  

In the beginning God…

It flows through:  

For God so loved…that He gave…

It ends full circle with:  

Even so, come Lord Jesus…

Circular logic may make the hair stand up on the back of a scientist’s or philosopher’s neck, but faith begins in the heart of a human being, created by God, for His glory and our good.  It won’t float in this world’s view, but for those who respond in faith, they will see God face to face.

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

Go to VIDEO

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

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©