April 20: Luke 24:13-35
Key Verse: Luke 24:25
He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Devotion:
Just like Mary did not recognise Jesus when she came out of the empty tomb, so too these two did not recognise Jesus. This is one of those things where we cannot bring ourselves to believe what we are looking at because we cannot conceive it as being possible, so we make up something else in our minds which we can believe. Mary assumed the role of a gardener on Jesus, whilst these two assumed the role of someone who had not heard anything which had happened over the past three days!
Jesus did not berate them for not recognising Him, but He did remind them of everything the prophets of old had said would happen when the Messiah came on the scene. He reminded them of the parallels with what He had been through and how this was all as it should have happened… Still they did not conceive it as possible so they continued to make up things in their own minds instead!
It was only when Jesus broke bread with them to have a meal they finally recognised Him for who He was! Sometimes it does take something physical to remind us of what Jesus is all about and to remind us He is with us all the time – even when we cannot think of it as possible because we are going through so much!
Christ wants us to know He is going to be with us all the time. Just as He promised the Holy Spirit would be in us, He promised us He would never leave us or forsake us. This is a promise and not just something He said idly whilst doing other things! God’s promises given to us from the beginning of time still hold true and we should expect all of them to come to pass!
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle when things get uncomfortable in life?
Will you hand those things over to Christ and trust Him?
April 19: Acts 2:36-41
Key Verse: Acts 2:39
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.
Devotion:
You can see the difference in how the disciples, now apostles, taught others about Jesus. When Jesus was with them in human form, they were not so forthright and willing to pass on every bit of knowledge they had. But now Jesus had shown them everything and had demonstrated the ultimate love for us all, they wanted everyone to know about this love.
No longer was it a love which was behind sacrifices and what seemed to be a long lesson through the desert, no longer did they have to demonstrate their love for God by being willing to give up what they had on this earth to be able to obtain animals which were fit for sacrifice. They knew why Jesus had come to die on the cross. They knew why Jesus was willing to do this all for them; because it was the ultimate demonstration of His love for us.
This love was not limited to the disciples, or to the Jews, or to good people or to those who were willing to sacrifice; this was open to every person who was willing to believe in what Jesus had done. As a demonstration of that belief, we repent of our sins and even get baptised. When we put aside our doubts and truly believe Jesus dies for us, we are able to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; this being what Jesus had said would happen!
We do need to step back from the corrupt ways of this world and be willing to accept Christ’s ways. We must be willing to admit to our sins and turn away from them. We must be willing to try and change our lives, not because we can do it by ourselves, but because God wants to help us do it! Christ took the first step to show us the Love God has for us and through Him we now have access to eternal life and the strength to turn away from evil!
Points to Ponder:
Do you accept what Jesus has done for you?
Will you trust what Jesus has promised for you?
April 18: Matthew 28:8-15
Key Verse: Matthew 28:13
telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.”
Devotion:
This is where we see the true colours of the people who were in charge of things during these times many years ago. We now see this echoing during our modern times as we witness politicians making extraordinarily terrible choices for human beings. The chief priests made choices they believed were right to make, but everyone around them saw the choices in the true light of day – terrible and long lasting pain and misery for the people they think they are protecting.
We see people in power making choices we cannot believe they are doing; we see the truth and wonder how they cannot see the truth because it is seemingly right in front of them! But, just as there are people in charge who will make terrible choices, there are also peers who will go along with those choices! How do I know? Because I have gone along with some horrible choices others have made, choices I am not proud of, but choices I have learned from.
I pray the leaders in our countries can take note of this story from the bible and realise just how pertinent it is to their choices they make. I pray we, as leaders of various sorts, take not of this story and make it pertinent to the choices we make in our lives which are going to affect others.
Each choice we make will not just affect us and our lives, but all the people around us and their lives too. The more we follow Christ’s words to love our neighbours, the more we will begin to think about these choices we make which affect so many more people that we first realise.
Points to Ponder:
Are you following bad examples given to you by others?
Will you try to stand up with the truth and change peoples lives for the better?
April 17: Luke 24:1-12
Key Verse: Luke 24:3
but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Devotion:
Have you ever lost anything? How about something which was precious and irreplaceable? I know that feeling all too well – and this moment when the women say Jesus’ body was no longer there must have been a tad worse! They came early in the morning to try and make sure Jesus’ body was best prepared for His final resting place – or so they thought!
God did not leave them wondering either; instead He sent two angels to tell the women what had happened, to give them comfort. These angels already knew what had happened and they did not give a long explanation as to what had happened… shouldn’t people have already known because they had been told!
Sometimes we do lose track of the directions God gives us and we step out of line because we turn back to what we think the world can do instead of relying on what God can do. We turn back to our earthly ways because that is what we can see, touch and smell. God is not limited by our senses or what the world can do. If we truly trust and believe in Him, our benefits and direction are guaranteed and we should always know the answers.
But we are human and we get trapped by the world and the limitations of our minds. We allow ourselves to be convinced by the people around us and what we can touch, smell, hear and see. We allow our world to be limited to what we can imagine. Yes it is difficulty to allow our imaginations to accept everything God can do, but we also need to trust Him and believe nothing is impossible for Him.
Points to Ponder:
How often are you limited by your thoughts?
He is risen! Hallelujah!