TAKE ANOTHER LOOK
SCRIPTURE
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
-Matthew 28:6
The sun rose on Sunday after Sabbath, just as it did every Sunday. But something was different today. The world changed, and the witnesses to the change each saw something different.
Think about the soldiers who drew the short end of the stick for all-night duty. They guarded a tomb to keep people from getting inside. They never expected that they needed to guard the tomb to keep someone from getting out!
Think about the women on their early-morning trek. They wanted to prepare the body of Jesus as a last way to honor the one they loved. They didn't know they had been invited to a welcome-back party.
Think about Peter and John running to the tomb with anger and disbelief boiling as they tried to make sense of what the women had reported--that Jesus's body was not in the tomb, that he was alive. They would take no one's word for it, but they never expected to be able to confirm what the women told them.
And what of us this Easter? What do we expect as we celebrate the story we know so well? What do we expect because we know the tomb is empty? That is the Easter question we must answer.
God wants us to see the full force of his power to change the end of our story. What could have happened didn't happen because God showed up! Every day beyond Easter is a day of empty-tomb discovery, a day we can find out how God wants to change the end of our story. Every day that we wake up, the empty tomb reminds us again that God works behind the scenes.
Today is a day to leave death clothes in an empty tomb and rediscover how the resurrection changes our story with more victory than defeat. Today, we look inside the empty tomb and leave our emptiness there too. We dare to believe that Jesus gives us whatever we need to live his way. Take another look at the empty tomb. What does God want us to know? When he speaks we will find the rest of our story.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Which of the first witnesses to the Easter miracle are you most like?
2. How will you keep Easter truth burning in your heart?
AFFIRMATION
Easter proves that I can live in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Risen Lord, help me live out the full meaning of your resurrection in the coming year.
SCRIPTURE
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
-Matthew 28:6
The sun rose on Sunday after Sabbath, just as it did every Sunday. But something was different today. The world changed, and the witnesses to the change each saw something different.
Think about the soldiers who drew the short end of the stick for all-night duty. They guarded a tomb to keep people from getting inside. They never expected that they needed to guard the tomb to keep someone from getting out!
Think about the women on their early-morning trek. They wanted to prepare the body of Jesus as a last way to honor the one they loved. They didn't know they had been invited to a welcome-back party.
Think about Peter and John running to the tomb with anger and disbelief boiling as they tried to make sense of what the women had reported--that Jesus's body was not in the tomb, that he was alive. They would take no one's word for it, but they never expected to be able to confirm what the women told them.
And what of us this Easter? What do we expect as we celebrate the story we know so well? What do we expect because we know the tomb is empty? That is the Easter question we must answer.
God wants us to see the full force of his power to change the end of our story. What could have happened didn't happen because God showed up! Every day beyond Easter is a day of empty-tomb discovery, a day we can find out how God wants to change the end of our story. Every day that we wake up, the empty tomb reminds us again that God works behind the scenes.
Today is a day to leave death clothes in an empty tomb and rediscover how the resurrection changes our story with more victory than defeat. Today, we look inside the empty tomb and leave our emptiness there too. We dare to believe that Jesus gives us whatever we need to live his way. Take another look at the empty tomb. What does God want us to know? When he speaks we will find the rest of our story.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Which of the first witnesses to the Easter miracle are you most like?
2. How will you keep Easter truth burning in your heart?
AFFIRMATION
Easter proves that I can live in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Risen Lord, help me live out the full meaning of your resurrection in the coming year.
Posted in Lent