Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-31; Luke 24:7, 13-34
So often, we become critical of Jesus’ disciples whenever they were overtaken with grief and surrounded by gloom as He died on the cross. However, we have to think about a couple of things that they didn’t have at their disposal. First of all, we have the completed Word of God (both Old and New Testaments), while they were actually the subjects that would be recorded in the New Testament writings. Second, we have to remember that we are on this side of the cross and resurrection, so if we were in their shoes (sandals), we may have been more reluctant to accept, believe, or remember Jesus’ prophetic words about His resurrection.
If you recall the account of the two followers of Christ with whom He was walking and talking to on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24), they didn’t realize it was Him until they sat down with Him and broke bread. I believe it was the moment that they saw the nail scars in His hands as He handed them the bread. Their hope returned as their hearts burned within them and they knew that they had just walked, talked, and shared bread with the Bread of Life.
It can be so easy for us to lose hope, and many times it is because we forget about the promises of God and we fail to focus on the fact that this life is not all that we have to look forward to. We have been given eternal life and blessings that are far beyond our comprehension. Let’s not miss the hope that we have in Christ. Additionally, let’s not neglect to share the hope that we have with others who are still lost in hopelessness.
I want you to keep this thought in mind as you read this devotional today: “The cross was not an unexpected atrocity; it was a necessity for our calamity, carefully orchestrated by Divinity.” Additionally, to wish that Jesus never had to endure the cross is to fail to understand the price that had to be paid. The Bible tells us that He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Out of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross, one of my favorites is contained in a single Greek word: tetelestai. Now, I know we have enough problems mastering one language, but this word is very important because it tells us exactly what Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished.”
Rather than implying that it was over, we can actually understand that He announced that life had just begun. Yes, His physical body had to lay in the ground for three days, but as one of my preacher friends says, “The crucifixion is the end of life, but the resurrection is the end of death.” We must remember that “it is finished” is translated “paid in full.” It is the equivalent of someone stamping a receipt with a “paid” stamp—only Jesus didn’t use ink; He used His precious blood.
I am certainly glad that the transaction was completed for me, because if it had not been, there would still be a huge outstanding balance on my sin account—it could never be completed by me, nor any of us, even on our best day. As we move closer to Resurrection Sunday, don’t forget to take some time to thank the Lord for providing the full payment for our transgressions through the blood of His Son Jesus. Hallelujah, it’s paid in full!
I am sure that many of you are familiar with a common scene on the side of many highways, especially down south. As you drive, you will notice three wooden crosses which serve as a reminder of what Jesus did for us. The reason there are three is to represent the criminals who were crucified on either side of Jesus. We know that one of them scorned Jesus and mocked Him all the way to his death, while the other one realized that Jesus was sinless, causing him to repent and experience eternal life with the King of kings.
If you are thinking “I already know all this,” you would be confirming my point before I even make it :) Sometimes we tend to get lost in the familiarity of the events of Holy Week, leading up to, and including the resurrection. Sadly, we even have the tendency to treat the death and resurrection of Christ as commonplace. But the truth is that it’s the reason for our hope! Without Jesus going to the cross, bleeding and dying for us, being buried, and rising from the grave, we would have no reason to live.
So, as we think back on these events from 2,000 years ago, let’s not see them as merely historical, and certainly not as only a story told to children in Sunday school—let’s remember that it’s the gospel! Paul told the Romans, and ultimately us, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God that causes us to be saved. There is absolutely nothing more special than that truth, so let’s not lose the joy and wonder of the cross and the empty grave. Take a few moments to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus and His victorious resurrection—it’s personal, because He did it all for you and for me!
Today I want us to think about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Too often, I think that we rob ourselves of blessings and spiritual opportunities for service due to the fact that we are not always choosing to be led by the Spirit. It is a fact that we cannot live a victorious spiritual life in our own human strength. Therefore, if we are going to be led by the Spirit, we must be fueled and filled by Him.
When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus while he was imprisoned in Rome, he used an analogy that everyone was familiar with, even though not everyone had personally experienced it. To drink excessive amounts of wine would lead to intoxication, and Paul warned against that, but there’s more to the verse. I feel like many times we throw around the command to not be drunk, but we don’t finish the thought: BUT be filled with the Spirit. While the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ and seals us to the day of redemption, we are not automatically filled to the max with His power, because when we choose to sin, we are willfully refusing to be led by the Spirit.
Think about how much more effective we would be if we stopped trying to do everything in our own physical strength and started relying on the strength of God’s Holy Spirit! It’s not supposed to be a weird subject—since we are indwelt by the Spirit, we should desire to be full of His power. Some areas of His ministry are to guide us in truth and comfort us. Believe me, when you surrender to His leading, you will notice the difference!
Whenever I go to bed, I usually put something peaceful and relaxing on the TV, and most nights I am out cold within a matter of minutes. Most recently, I have been watching the Bob Ross Channel on my Roku, as I have always enjoyed his paintings. As much as I love to hear his calm, smooth voice, I am really entertained watching him create a masterpiece while making it look so effortless.
One of my favorite parts of his painting show is when he is cleaning out his brushes and in order to dry them, he instructs those who are painting at home to beat the devil out of them. That cracks me up every time! Then, of course he’s always commenting about painting happy little trees. No wonder the late Bob Ross’ show was called “The Joy of Painting”, because it is truly a joy to watch!
God wants to make a masterpiece out of your life and mine. His work of art begins with the blood of Jesus, and as we allow Him to paint, He transforms us more and more into the image of His Son. Not only were we all fearfully and wonderfully made in the womb, but when we came into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we were re-created in Him with the purpose of doing good works that will point to the glory of God: the greatest Artist in the universe!
Whenever you purchase a car, phone, computer, or other item, usually the salesperson will try to upsell certain add-ons. Even if it’s something you have owned for a while, there may be an opportunity to upgrade to a new or more-improved version. Imagine how much money we could save if we could still buy a car with crank windows, no A/C, and a regular radio minus the fancy navigation. Whatever the case may be, we are all familiar with add-ons.
Too often, we consider Christianity to be an add-on to our lives, while totally missing the entire reason that Jesus died and rose again: to completely forgive us and give us brand new life that transcends any quality of life we could manufacture for ourselves. It’s not an upgrade based on what we’ve already started making—it’s an entirely new reality that was gifted to us by God’s grace.
If you are a believer in Christ, you are a new creation. That doesn’t mean that God tries to improve on your efforts; He gives you a brand new start that allows you to live for Him and serve Him with His plan in mind. Jesus Christ is not an add-on…He’s the whole thing; everything in life that matters is found in Him! If you are seeking purpose, just remember to completely surrender every thought, word, and deed to the power of Christ. He will then add on blessings to your life that will bring greater glory to His Name.
Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 45:5-7; Colossians 1:17
I’m sure many of us are in the same boat in regard to waiting out the April showers. Until the rain stops and the ground dries, I cannot do a single thing about making my tall lawn shorter. As the regular grass and onion grass shoots up toward the sky, I just have to watch it grow and hope that we get a break and some sunshine in order to get it under control. While this is a feeble example of not having control over a situation, you could apply this principle to even the most severe scenarios in life.
When we read the Bible and understand how small and insignificant our ability is to affect things, it should cause us to place our trust in the One who controls every situation—whether it seems trivial or whether it’s a major catastrophe. When we become confident in our own ability to solve problems and control the narrative, we usually end up getting humbled by God. Let’s just agree that’s not a good place to be!
We serve a God who is infinitely powerful, and we need to remember that we are severely finite and limited in our capacity to handle situations. The best way for us to avoid humiliating ourselves and falling flat on our face is to surrender all control to God right off the bat. His plan is far bigger than our whims, opinions, and ideas—that’s why we need to realize that not only can He handle it, He also has a perfect purpose for everything He does. Nothing is beyond His control.
A couple days ago, I saw a food sign on the side of the highway that told me there was a Long John Silver’s restaurant off the exit. I was a little apprehensive because I knew that there used to be a Long John’s there, but a few years ago they shut down. So, part of me figured that if there was a sign on the side of the highway advertising this specific restaurant, perhaps they opened a new location or reopened (revived) the old one, because who keeps a sign up for thousands of people to see everyday if the establishment has been closed for years, right? Boy, was I wrong! It was very, very closed.
Long story short: I had to settle for Arby’s and the fries were subpar (First World problems, I guess), but that’s beside the point. Think about the disappointment someone experiences when they are duped by false advertising. It can leave a bad taste in their mouth (or no taste at all of Long John’s chicken strips, thanks to LJS abandoning me—but I’m not bitter :) Now, let’s dive into the practical application, which I feel is rather obvious today.
Many churches and individual Christians are so dry (and almost lifeless) that while their sign says “open for ministry” or “follower of Christ”, there’s very little proof. Some churches have sold out to the world and have embraced wokeness, causing a great apostasy. However, some just need to be revived and live up to their name (“Christian”) by returning to godly habits that indicate to others that the Lord is working in their lives and they are walking in the Spirit. But if there is no intention of making these things right, the sign needs to come down, because it just leads to disappointment and confusion for those who are truly seeking hope. Let’s renew our devotion to Christ and unashamedly live for Him so the sign is accurate and matches what’s on the inside! It’s time for a pulse check.
As I was driving home from Maine yesterday, I passed a place in Yarmouth that always grabs my attention. Within a building that you can see from the interstate, there is a giant globe called Eartha. It is the world‘s largest rotating and revolving globe, ironically located inside a large glass building owned by Garmin GPS systems. A couple years ago, I decided to take the exit and go see Eartha up close. It was pretty impressive!
This giant globe weighs nearly 3 tons and has a diameter of over 41 feet. As cool as that is, it has nothing on God’s creation and pales in comparison to the infinite number of stars and planets He has made. However, while the uncountable number of celestial bodies is impressive, if we consider the size of some of them, it will absolutely blow our mind! The fact that 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the Sun is almost incomprehensible, but when we consider the size of our God, it’s not surprising. By the way, our Sun is pretty tiny in comparison to many of the stars in the known universe. Try to comprehend this: 1.2 billion Suns could fit inside the star Betelgeuse!
The hope that I can take away from today’s fact-finding adventure is this: our God is so huge that our problems are very easy for Him to handle. For many years, I have said that Satan’s most effective tool is a magnifying glass with which he magnifies the size of our problems, causing us to feel like we are without hope. But the good news is that our God is more than capable of handling life’s biggest problems, so we need to be confident placing them in His immeasurably enormous hands. Whenever you need a reminder of His capability, just sing the old children’s song, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” If He spoke the universe into existence, He can certainly speak peace into your life.
Contact email: PastorJDM@outlook.com
© 2025 John Mallonee
