In This Life and the Next

Many of you have emailed to say that you've missed the devotionals this week. You can thank Mother Nature for that! I've been in the mountains of Grundy County since Sunday afternoon for a Board of Ordained Ministry meeting. Lightning from last week's storm struck the tower that provides internet to the area and we had no service. I'm glad you missed the devotionals and I'm glad to be able to resume them today.


In This Life and the Next

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" -Mark 16:6-8 (NIV)

Yesterday afternoon, someone stopped me on our beautiful town square here in Fayetteville. He subscribes to my daily devotional and to our church's "News from the Pews" prayer list that is emailed out each week. He mentioned that we've had a lot of people on our prayer list lately. I noted that many of the people on our prayer list are not members of our church. It's just that our church is known as being a "praying church." People inside and outside our church know that, if you have a prayer need, the folks at Fayetteville First United Methodist Church will faithfully lift it up to the Lord in prayer.

Speaking of prayer needs, over the last several days many people for whom our church has been praying have received discouraging reports. I've found myself weeping on several different occasions because people I love have been rocked to the core with bad news.

Maybe that's why I needed Mark 16 today. It's a resurrection text, which seems rather odd to be reading in the middle of the Lenten season. But I tend to give God the benefit of the doubt when things like this happen and I wasn't disappointed this morning.

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome are on their way to the place where the crucified Christ has been buried. They're worried. They're worried that his decomposing body is beginning to smell. They're worried that a huge stone is blocking entrance into the tomb and that they won't be able to enter. But they're greeted by a messenger of God who proclaims that Christ has risen and has gone ahead of them into Galilee. This messenger promises the women that they will see Jesus again.

Like the women of the text, maybe you've recently witnessed or received some discouraging news. Maybe you're worried. Maybe you're afraid. Maybe what you need more than anything else this morning is a message from God: that Jesus has defeated death, that he goes before you with the promise of a better future, and that you will see him again.

Even with such a promise, perhaps you're still afraid (the women in the text were). But may God grant you the grace that, in the midst of worry, discouragement, and alarm, you be assured of God's great love for you. Christ is risen. And you will see him. This isn't just a promise that is fulfilled after you die. It's a promise that will be fulfilled both in this life and the next.

The Good Morning God daily devotionals are based on assigned scripture readings from The Life Journal, designed to encourage people to read through the entire Bible in a year and then journal about it.

If you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year, tomorrow's suggested readings are Deuteronomy 13-15 and Galatians 1.