July 13 Edify Devotional

Today’s Devotional Theme      A Messenger to Mankind   Daily Scripture Colossians 1:27 “To them [His saints] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  Encouragement  The 15 year old boy wandered among the broad ditches beneath a sodden sky. From the ditches rose columns of smoke, acrid with the sickening smell of searing flesh. From the ditches rose the screams of Jews being burned alive by Nazi prison personnel, intent on carrying out the edict of the regime to rid the world of human beings contemptible in their indoctrinated eyes. The boy, the only survivor of a family of 4, lost sight forever of his mother and sister soon after the family was herded into Auschwitz concentration camp. Far too young to comprehend the horror happening around him, the boy watched helplessly for years as his father was slowly consumed by malnutrition and dysentery. After he was rescued by the allies, Elie Wiesel, who died last week at 87, became an American citizen. He had his joy forever ripped from him by the inhuman events he witnessed at Auschwitz. He was unable to embrace a compassionate God who, if real, would—as he saw it—never permit such horror to happen to his people. Nonetheless, he became an unflagging messenger of hope to humanity. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in the mid-fifties for his writings and his indefatigable efforts to persuade the world never to forget the Nazis’ exterminating at least 6 million of his brothers and sisters. Take Action! Despite his agnosticism, Elie Wiesel was the Jew perhaps most responsible for bringing to all mankind a message of hope for a better world. Except for one other Jew, greater than Wiesel, greater than you and I, who lived 2,000 years before Wiesel and who has brought to us a greater hope than any mere mortal can convey. Jesus Christ ignites in us a hope of glory, not hope as the world understands hope, but an unshakeable conviction that this hope is real and eternal. Elie Wiesel shared a message of “let us never forget” the brutal treatment that men often wreak on their fellow men – a message given fresh poignancy by the shooting of police in Dallas and by another shooting of a black motorist by a police officer in St. Paul this past week. How can we, Christ’s messengers, not carry the hope of glory to our fellow men and women who are slowly dying, unredeemed in this world? Come into His Presence Lord God, sustainer of heaven and earth, let us always remain mindful that we are Your ambassadors, bound to share the message of salvation with an increasingly dystopic world. In Jesus’ name, amen. Mark Bacon Teacher & Mentor Email Mark

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