A Promise

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Have you ever known that something you really didn’t want to have to deal with was coming?  Think about how you felt knowing that you would not be able to change what was about to happen.  When I think about this right now, I think about a lady that I know that just went into hospice care as cancer has overtaken her.  Her husband is a pastor at a church I went to in college.  They know that her time is coming to an end and while they pray for a miracle, they also realize that the Lord may take her home sooner than they would hope. 

Christ also knew what he was about to face.  He didn’t fight it.  The thing is, he knew that while his death was about to happen, there was a bigger picture coming. 

The lady I talked about earlier also is not fighting what is coming to her either, as she knows that when Christ was killed, he would raise again a few days later.  She knows her future.

While today is a day that we will mourn a death, we have to remember that Sunday will bring a promise that gives each of us a comfort that if we do confess our sins, we will be forgiven.  

Thurs Devo: Final Dinner

If you knew you only had one more meal to share with close family and friends, what would you do?  What would you plan to eat, where would you plan to eat it, and what other activities would you try to squeeze in?   Would you plan a big party at a banquet hall or offer to clean the bathrooms at church?

Let’s see how Jesus spent His last meal with His disciples…

John 13:1-17    ¹It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  ²The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" ⁷Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." ⁸"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." ⁹"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" ¹⁰Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." ¹¹For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. ¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. ¹³"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

This is probably a familiar passage, but did you realize that washing the disciples feet was one of the last things Jesus did the day before His death?  The rest of chapter 13 through chapter 17 include specific instructions, promises, prophecies, prayers, and encouragement Jesus gave to his disciples at this final dinner.  So how are we, today, to do as Jesus did? 

I heard about one believer who decided he would wash the car of those that visited his house.  Even when two couples came to his house just to carpool to a restaurant, he snuck outside and had their car washed while his wife was interacting with them inside.  Amazing!

What fellow believer will you and I humbly serve this Holy week?  How?

Alice

Asleep At The Wheel

Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”  He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.  He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?  Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”  Matthew 26:36-41

My wife will testify that I do a lot of driving (about 40,000 miles a year).  Some days, I can barely hold my eyes open on the road.  Over the years, I have learned to find something to keep me awake like music, or if on a long road trip, I find a safe spot to rest for a moment.  The key is that when driving, I am always alert to what may be going on so that I do not endanger not only the people with me but also the other drivers.  After all, it only takes one moment of distraction to change the lives of others, and I do not want to be asleep at the wheel when something might happen.

We should always be alert to what God might have planned for we might miss when He is up to something.  I have read today’s verses multiple times focusing on the humility of Jesus wanting to do God’s will over His own.  However, I did not fully focus on the part of Peter, James, and John falling asleep while Jesus was praying until now.  Here it is, the people who were back then the most loyal to Jesus, and they were sleep on the job!  Now I’m sure that was not their intention, but they had not realized this was the day before the crucifixion.  Had they truly been ‘awake,’ they would have understood why Jesus instructed them as He did, and perhaps they would have embraced this moment more than they did.  As we grow in our faith, we too can ‘fall asleep’ when God is instructing us to do something.  Taking that into consideration, this story becomes a warning of sorts for all of us.  Jesus instructs us to keep an eye out and pray faithfully for the world is filled with temptation, and if we are not wise and awake to it, we will stumble and fall.

We must be vigilant in our focus on Jesus.  There are plenty of worldly distractions, and when we are not distracted, our faith can be under duress such that we grow tired and weary.  But today’s verses should help us understand that Jesus knows this and instructs us to ‘keep watch and pray’ for “(God) gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (Isaiah 40:29)  By doing this, we are always on a mission for God.  Are there areas of your faith that need an awakening?  What will you do to stay alert to God’s prompting?  My prayer is that as we begin to reflect on the final days of Christ on earth, let us remember to stay alert to God at all times so that we do not fall asleep at the wheel.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Be ready

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (NASB)

1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; ” (NASB)

Hello,

You never know when the next question or conversation is going to come from – or go to! Sometimes the conversation is overtly spiritual – sometimes it simply opens the door for you to take that direction. We have been instructed to share our faith and the hope of Jesus as we are going about our business. We have been instructed to be ready to give a defense for our faith as well. Notice that one of these commands is proactive, and the other reactive – that really is quite encompassing! Also, notice that in both passages it is accompanied by instructions around our behavior (there are additional verses past 15 in 1 Peter 3 that go there even more). True, behavior is not what saves – but it is a reflection of our beliefs being real to us, it is an act of obedience and love, and it pays some dividends in heaven as well.

So, be ready! Be proactively sharing, and be ready to explain to those who question you as well. (hint here – daily reading, regular prayer and periodically revisiting ‘the basics’ should help all of us!)

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill