'Risen Christ' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.” vs. 23 Galatians 3:23-26 Looking back, Paul now sees that his life before Christ, under the law, was like a rigid imprisonment. Strict adherence to the commandments and the ordinances kept him on the straight and narrow, but at a cost. He never experienced the freedom that comes with faith and grace. In this letter to the Galatians, he explores that new life…
Daily Devotions
Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” vss. 28-29 John 20:26-29 While John does make mention in his gospel of the anonymous “Beloved Disciple,” the disciple most beloved by many Christians is Thomas. After all it’s his story that most closely resonates with their own as they seek to make sense of Jesus’ resurrection.…
Daily Devotions
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” vs. 6 Revelation 1:4-8 John was moved by his extraordinary vision of the Risen Christ to write letters to seven congregations scattered through the western part of present day Turkey. It had been a powerful experience, a glimpse of the heavenly precincts, and an encounter with the Divine Presence. Vocabulary fails us in such circumstances and John…
Daily Devotions
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?” vs. 12 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 As part of his proclamation in the early congregations Paul regularly spoke of his personal encounter with the Risen Christ. In that transformative moment he was called to become an apostle and to stop persecuting Christians. So when he ran into believers who claimed that there was no resurrection of the dead…
Daily Devotions
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” vs. 17 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 We don’t see many stories of Jesus in the writings of Paul, and there’s a reason for that. He had never known Jesus of Nazareth–he only knew the risen Christ and believed that in Christ all had died and all had been raised. In his words, in Christ there had been a new creation…
Daily Devotions
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” vs. 7 John 16:4b-15 The disciples likely didn’t think it would be to their advantage to have Jesus go away–that’s not in our human nature. When we love someone dearly and have been fed by their presence, we like to keep…
Daily Devotions
There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’” vs. 6 Psalm 4:5-8 Twenty-five hundred years ago there were people wandering around Jerusalem, shaking their heads in disgust at the constant stream of bad news that daily came their way. They longed for good news–and so do we! There are daily reports of political scandals, international tensions, and the continuing effects of the global COVID shutdown.…
Daily Devotions
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” vss. 22-23 John 20:19-25 The gospel writer John understood that the Holy Spirit could not be contained and said that it was like the wind. We could hear the sound of it but not know where it was coming from, or where…
Daily Devotions
All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.” vs. 3 Ephesians 2:1-3 When the writer of Ephesians penned this letter he made no distinction between himself and those he was addressing. All were in the same boat, all were following the desires of their flesh and senses, and they were dead to the riches God had for…
Daily Devotions
Ephesians 1:18-23 “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…” vs. 20 Some people point to verses like this to show that the Risen Christ has been elevated to a position in the universe that is beyond our reach or understanding. If that’s what we believe, we’re really on our own in the world now, left to work things out as best…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 34:8-18, 22 “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” vs. 8 While we can’t be certain what the psalmist was referring to in this well-known verse, it does strike a chord with those who yearn for a deeper experience of the Divine Presence. It may even be one of the reasons that the Sacrament of Holy Communion has had such deep significance for so many believers through the years.…
Daily Devotions
Matthew 21:42-46 … “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.” vs. 45 The religious leaders of the Jews were not lacking in intelligence–they got the point of Jesus’ parables and knew that he had been talking about them. But it made absolutely no difference in their behavior. They did not repent of their foolish ways and become his followers. Instead they began to plot about how they might arrest…
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