John 20:21—Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Read todays devotion, Sent By The Risen Savior, from Beside Quiet Waters, a devotion book that reminds today’s Christians that when life’s storms threaten to overcome us, the Lord promises to lead us to find peace. “Use me, O Lord, use me,” prayed the new church member, “but only in an advisory capacity.” He didn’t want to be in the front lines slugging away, but in a rear pew where sluggish faith could relax. Such advisory Christianity is not what the risen Savior had in mind for his followers. “I am sending you,” he told them. Nor did he leave them clueless as to what they were to do. “Peace be with you!” he told them again. God had sent Jesus to prepare this peace. Now Jesus was sending them to publish it. They were to march out into the world with the cross of their risen Savior held high. The peace of sin’s forgiveness, won by the Savior on the cross, was to be their message as they reached out to those around them. Do you think they relocked the doors in that upper room after Jesus left? Or looked around and complained about the odds? Those first followers didn’t need any prodding. They had something the world desperately needed and with joy went about distributing it. When you read again the book of Acts, you’ll sense their joy in carrying out the mission the risen Savior had given them. Do I see my risen Savior standing before me? Do I feel his hand on my shoulder? Do I hear him say, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”? He has work for me to do. I not only have his peace to hold in my heart but to hand on to others who need it as much as I do. Prayer: Please, risen Lord, let it not be an advisory capacity for me but a joyful witnessing about you. Amen. From Beside Quiet Waters: Daily Devotions for a Year, by Richard E. Lauersdorf © 2005 Northwestern Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:30:00 +0000
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