Marketing Assistant (Writer), CBN Europe
Welcome to Day 7 of our Easter 2020 Devotional series! We are at the end of the series but we hope that the effects of our study will continue on throughout the rest of the year and beyond. Today we celebrate that Jesus is alive and well and look at what that means for us as followers of Him.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
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‘The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.’
(John 20: 30-31 NLT)
I love the closing statement of the book of John – that by believing in Him we will have life!
Jesus did not die so that we, as His followers, live safe, normal, boring lives. Jesus came and died and rose again to give us life and life in all of its fullness! (See John 10:10). The Amplified version of the Bible puts it like this:
‘I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance .’
Enjoy life! Till it overflows!
As we are at the end of this series of devotions, I would encourage you to evaluate your life. Does your life look like John 10:10? Are you living a life that you enjoy, one that overflows?
If your answer to these questions is ‘yes’ – excellent! Keep on living the life that Jesus died for you to have. However, if your answer looks more like a ‘no’, do not be disheartened. His mercies are new every morning and God is more than able to turn your life around, into one that you enjoy living.
Jesus needs His people to be fully alive. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill (see Matthew 5:14). We cannot and should not be ashamed or hidden.
The ultimate sacrifice was made so that we do not have to live a life afraid of its destination. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have the assurance of Heaven and eternity with your Saviour to look forward to.
Run your race. Be diligent and alert and enjoy your life*!
(*For a great book all about what it means to say to God “I will do anything”, click here.)
In each day of our Easter 2020 Devotional we will have some new questions to ask you regarding what you have read. Why not take some time, listen to the music below, and contemplate what God would say to you today?
Q1. What does today’s scripture reveal to you?
Q2. What would your life look like if there were no restrictions placed on it?
Q3. What one thing can you do today to remind yourself to live your life to the full and never shrink back?
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