Today's Devotional Thought
April 09, 2012 by Rachel Piferi
A Great Love
The older I get, the more the entire week of Easter begins to take on new meaning. And the more I try to meditate on each and every day of the week leading up to Jesus' resurrection.
I can remember being younger and just rushing through the week to get to Easter morning. When you are a child, you cannot wait to wear your new Easter dress and see what is in your Easter basket. As I got older, I still seemed to rush to Easter Sunday. It wasn't to wear an Easter dress or look in my Easter basket, but rather it was a failure to really meditate on Jesus' crucifixion because I knew that the resurrection was coming. It was almost as if I couldn't think about the crucifixion without completing the story in mind by rushing to Jesus' resurrection.
As I would think about Good Friday, my mind would rush ahead to Sunday, almost as if the knowledge of the Resurrection helped me cope with the brutality of Christ's crucifixion.
But this year, I have had a different outlook on Easter week. In fact, today, the day after Easter, I am reminded of something I have said recently about Isabella's birth. I was talking about her miracle recently and I said that the miracle of her birth does not erase the pain of the months leading up to it. The uncertainty. The anxiety. The helplessness. All of that did not go away just because God performed a miracle in her life. The miracle was glorious. But the pain leading up to it still happened.
And the same is true of Jesus' crucifixion.
Jesus' resurrection is a glorious display of his power over death. And his resurrection is what gives us hope each and every day. As I meditate on his power over death, I am reassured of his power over all of my hopeless situations. He will prevail in all situations and we will be victorious with him in this life and after.
But dear friends, do not forget the sacrifice and the pain he endured to give us that hope. Do not rush past his sacrifice. It is that sacrifice that allows us to be reunited with a God who loves us so much. It is his brutal crucifixion that allows us to have the hope that arrived on Sunday. It is his crucifixion that I am eternally grateful for.
I hope you all had a blessed Easter week. And, I pray that as we continue in life after the resurrection that we are continually mindful of Jesus' great love for us. A love that went to the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. A love that endured pain and abandonment and brutality in our place. And a love that proved victorious over death on Sunday.
We can find hope together today because of this very love of our Savior...meditate on that today.
December