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.”

Hope.

Romans 15:8-13

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
    and sing to your name.”

10 And again it is said,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

11 And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
    and let all the peoples extol him.”

12 And again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,
    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

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God urges us toward hope and the future. He is not content with having us rest on our laurels. He is not willing to allow us to bide our time waiting out the end or simply getting by. He urges us toward something more. Some say that this is evidenced by the god-shaped hole in our hearts that only he can fill; that we’re restless apart from him and not satisfied until he fills us with his fullness in Christ.

That may be true, but if you consider these few verses in Romans 15, you get the idea that God urges toward the future by means of the promises of his word. When I see this list of Old Testament promises and prophecies, I am struck by how God again and again spoke of something that was yet to be. I am convinced that the truest urging toward hope is through the promises of God’s word.

We do well to fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts with Christ. We do well to recognize that we don’t live for just today. We do even better when we listen to the promises in God’s word – both Old and New Testaments – and seek to apply those promises to our lives and let them shape our souls.

Here Paul focuses on the fact that these promises apply to the Gentiles. This Good News is not for a select few. It is for everyone. God would urge everyone to have an eye toward the future; to embrace hope founded in the resurrection and the life of the world to come. Abounding in such hope will keep us well-focused in the face of any struggle or in the times where patience is also needed. It may even shape our hearts and lives when we are content with where we are and don’t even realize we still need hope.

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