David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

Treasures Worthy of Our Hearts

Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Cross in the courtyard outside the East Cathedral in Beijing, China

Too many things clamor for our attention and the affection of our hearts. We see a new car and want it. We let our hearts be captured by worthy and unworthy desires alike. It’s a phenomenon that is all to common. The same hearts that are given to responding to the needs of earthquake victims in Haiti are captive to the glitter and sparkle of Las Vegas slots and shows. We each can so easily love God and diamonds or gold at the same time. Or so we think.

Jesus says you cannot serve God and mammon. While he is referring specifically to the god of wealth, the truth is that we cannot serve God and anyone or anything else. Only God is worthy of our hearts, faith, and worship. Only God deserves to be served. Only in serving him do we find life, hope, or salvation.

Jesus knows us. He realizes how easily we are given to unworthy desires and vain yearnings. He also knows how far short things other than God himself fall in filling our souls and giving us life. That’s why God’s people say with Paul, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 6:14) That is a treasure worthy of our hearts’ yearnings.

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