July 2, 2013
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 28:11-15
OBSERVATIONS/APPLICATION
The religious leaders do NOT want to believe that Jesus is alive.
They are as devoted to their faith that Jesus is not the Messiah, as His disciples were devoted to their confidence that He is!
Some people accuse Christians of blindly following faith, not reason.
But faith lies at the root of all thinking, for the atheist and the theist.
When we believe something, we see all the facts through the lens of that belief.
Those who do not want to believe in Jesus as the resurrection will not see any evidence for it, not because it’s not there but because they don’t want to.
No, I am not saying that there is clear evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, but I am saying that it takes as much faith (in different things) to deny it as to affirm it.
Yes, one reason I believe it is because I want to believe it, just as one reason you do not believe it is because you do not want to.
People make up stories to help them make sense of the world, and those stories typically fit their preference and desire… people believe what they want to believe!
I admit my faith in believing in Jesus… Do you admit your faith in denying Him?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving me evidence that You are alive. Please show Yourself (as You did to Paul) to those who do not want to believe!
Jesus follower
trying to find His way
Observations:
Some of the guards went to the chief priests and told them the happening. Again, the priests paid monies to get their way – they paid Judas, they paid the guards and they ‘paid’ those in authority over them – so that their story would be consistent. And their story spread. And it was believed. The lie became the ‘truth.’
Application:
Once again I am reminded about ears and eyes. Do I have ears to hear the truth and eyes to see the truth or do I just see and hear what I want to hear and see. Selective hearing. Selective seeing. As I travel this creation – what do I see? What do I want to see? The same is true of Who I believe. Do I believe man’s story of how things came to be or God’s story?
Our world – my world belongs to God. I must walk with my risen Saviour each day. Where do I see Him is a daily question. And to remind myself of that walk I continue to wear the bracelet WWJD – walk with Jesus daily for He is my Lord and My God. I belong to Him and He is mine. I believe His story.
Prayer:
Help me in my walk this day Lord to see Your glory and majesty and power and presence and creativeness and. . .
Walk in the light: so shalt thou know
That fellowship of love
His Spirit only can bestow
Who reigns in light above.
Walk in the light: and sin abhorred
Shall ne’er defile again;
The blood of Jesus Christ, thy Lord,
Shall cleanse from every stain.
Walk in the light: and thou shalt find
Thy heart made truly His
Who dwells in cloudless light enshrined
In Whom no darkness is.
Walk in the light: and thou shalt own
Thy darkness passed away,
Because that light hath on thee shone
In which is perfect day.
Walk in the light: and e’en the tomb
No fearful shade shall wear;
Glory shall chase away its gloom,
For Christ has conquered there.
Walk in the light: and thine shall be
A path, though thorny, bright;
For God, by grace, shall dwell in thee,
And God Himself is light.