- So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Matthew 28:8-9 – Jesus is risen from the dead! This was the gospel message on the lips of these ladies who had just been at Jesus’ borrowed tomb and seen for themselves it was empty. They had been commanded by the angel to go quickly and tell the disciples that Jesus was no longer dead but alive. So what did these ladies do? They ran. They ran as fast as they could to do what heaven had commanded them to do, and do you see what they came across as they ran hard to do what the Lord told them to do? They came across Jesus Himself. Spurgeon has a wonderful quote about this idea, “Saints running in the way of obedience are likely to be met by Jesus. Some Christians travel to heaven so slowly that they are overtaken by follies or by faults, by slumber or by Satan; but he who is Christ’s running footman shall meet his Master while he is speeding on his way.” As we run hard after Jesus, seeking to fulfill what He tells us to do, know you will come across your Savior on that path. What does that mean? It means the One who has everything you need in this life can be found as you follow His directions. Are you looking for peace, stability, answers, and purpose? All those can be found in Jesus, and where you’ll encounter Jesus is along the path of obedience. Do not expect to find Jesus along the path of your sin other than Him directing you away from all that. Encounter the risen Savior by following what the risen Savior has told us to do. Go and make disciples. When your life is about that mission, you can expect to see Jesus showing up in marvelous ways and providing for your needs along that path. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3350
- Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 – Today we need to be reminded once again by Jesus of our purpose for existing. We are here to worship God and make disciples. What we must remember is that we are here to make disciples, not just Christians. Yes of course we want people to choose Jesus as their Savior, but we also want them to change their life to deeply follow His lead and obey His commands. This is going to take more than just a few minutes saying a prayer with them. This might mean involving yourself deeply in their life helping them know what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus. Walking through their failures and discussing their questions. This takes time and commitment from you, but this is our purpose. Today, who can you help become a better disciple? Who can you invest in to help them follow God more deeply? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 882
- And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. Matthew 28:17 – In our verse we’re taking about the disciples of Jesus the moment they first saw Him post resurrection. We see they worshipped Jesus, but, for whatever their reason was, some doubted all they were seeing in front of them. We can look down on them and condemn them for that doubt, but let’s be real, would there have been no doubt in your heart and mind if your were there in that moment instead? Yesterday I heard a message that spoke on doubt and how in our churches we should welcome those with doubts and create space for it to be discussed without judgement. Why? Because often that doubt, when addressed and brought out into the open, can be the doors for deep growth and firming of our faith. For church history reveals the whole of the disciples lived out their faith life for Jesus and many died for it as well. This included even those that in the moment of our passage doubted. Let’s not discard people’s doubts as nothing or judge them harshly because they have questions about all this. Walk alongside them, listen deeply, speak scripture into their story, show them Jesus’ heart for them…and repeat this for however long is needed. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1978
Daily DEVO 