April 5: Acts 2:22-32
Key Verse: Acts 2:32
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
Devotion:
After the disciples had had time to think about what Christ had done and how much it meant to them, they made sure they went out and told other people just how special that first Easter was and is! We can now read about their reactions to what happened and we can made informed decisions about it... but still many choose to put Christ aside and ignore the Easter story.
We need to be more like the disciples and face up to people who make excuses about what Christ means to them. I know I have been there and made excuses so I would not have to go to church, or made excuses so I would not have to tell others about Christ... but as time goes by I see just how important it is to not just know the Easter story, but to re-tell it!
We have many writings from before Christ even came to earth to tell us about the things which would come to pass. Many people either ignored those writings or refused to believe Jesus could come to earth as a mere human being! This is exactly what He did – to make sure we understood this can happen for us too!
I have just listened to a wonderful talk about how we could be like a train going through a tunnel. Christ is the engine and made it through the tunnel to be raised from the dead. We are like the coaches, without an engine, we will not make it through the tunnel, but linked up to Christ, He will pull us through and make sure we too are raised from the dead to eternal life with Him!
Points to Ponder:
How many people did you wish a happy Easter?
How many of those people know the truth about Christ?
April 4: Mark 16:1-8
Key Verse: Mark 16:6
‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Devotion:
Around Easter I often try to think how the people in the stories felt about what was going on. This was a time of great sadness because they probably thought they had somehow lost the battle, but this was the moment when they would see just how much God loves us and how much Jesus had done for us! The ladies came prepared to dress up the body with the spices, probably dressed appropriately for mourning...
When they approached the tomb and finally looked up to see how they were going to try and roll the stone away from the entrance, it was already moved aside! The first thing Christ had done at the break of dawn was to complete His promise to the world, to defeat evil once and for all; just not in the way we think of defeating evil.
When we think of coming up against evil, we think of big battles, fights, superheroes and all manner of earthly things. What Christ did was to defeat death, or debt for the evil in the world. Christ paved the way for us to be able to avoid eternal death by rising up from death and showing the world He can and will do everything for us!
The ladies must have been in shock when they saw the tomb was empty. They must have been very afraid by the young man dressed in white sitting there as if everything was ok. And then to be told Jesus was no longer dead after they had seen Him die on the cross... weel, we can only imagine what they thought. They fled! They said nothing at first because they were too scared to say anything. We only know this now because this is all history and they figured things out.
Points to Ponder:
Jesus is our Saviour! Christ has risen! He has risen indeed!
Hallelujah!
April 3: Matthew 27:57-61
Key Verse: Matthew 27:58
Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
Devotion:
After the terrifying ordeal of Easter Friday when Jesus was crucified, people would have been divided as to what to do with the body; should they leave it there because it was such a position of shame, or should they do the right thing and take it away for burial? Joseph or Arimathea stepped forward and asked for the body of Jesus to be given to him for proper burial.
Not only this, but Joseph turned over His personal tomb (which he had no doubt paid a lot of money for) to Jesus’ burial. There was no doubt in his mind what should be done – the right thing! Joseph was willing to give everything he had stored up for Christ because of what Christ had just done for Him!
Too often in our lives we look at the things we have and we give a portion to God; a portion we can do without for a bit... This is not what God calls us to do. God calls us to be willing to give Him everything in our lives. If you remember when the rich man approached Jesus and asked how to get to heaven, Jesus said he had to sell everything – something he was not willing to do because he was so wealthy.
God is not going to demand we all sell everything and give it all away – what he is asking is that we are willing to do this if He asks. What He has lined up in Heaven for us is far and beyond anything we can comprehend on earth. He is not asking us to turn what we have so we can gain more in the end either... He is asking us to be willing to give everything should He ask. Joseph was willing and able – he did!
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to give everything to God?
What will you hold back next time He asks?
April 2: John 19:16-22
Key Verse: John 19:19
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
Devotion:
Sometimes it is not nice to be the person in charge when things go terribly wrong. Sometimes the outcome is way out of your reach and the only thing you can feasibly do is to go with the flow – or at least that is how we see things. God does not see things like that, instead standing up for what is right and always telling the truth!
I’m pretty sure Pilate saw what the Chief Priests were up to but he was not in a position to argue against them. If he did, they would have revolted in some way and there would have been a time of unrest which is not what he would have wanted! So he did the human thing and gave ground to the crowd. We do things like that when the going gets tough because we see it as an easier way out that having to put up with an angry crowd.
Jesus knew He was going to get blamed for many things and He knew He would have to go to the cross and give up His life. I wonder what was going through His mind as He saw the Chief Priests doing what they were doing out of ignorance, pride and greed rather than out of wisdom! Jesus wept over the people when He saw they had turned toward sin instead of following Him. Now the priests themselves were turning away from Him.
Pilate’s words he had written on the sign which was fastened to the cross explained his personal feelings in a way. He saw Jesus as the example the others should have been looking up to and following. Instead, to keep the peace, he was having to give in to the ignorance, pride and greed of the people in charge of the Jews, so he wrote these words! And he stood by them when the Chief Priests came to complain about them...
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to peer pressure a lot?
Have you tried to ask Christ which way you should be going lately?