Be God’s Good Friday
The plan, last Sunday was to write the following Friday’s (April 18th) devotional exclusively about the greatest act ever known to mankind.
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Then came Thursday (April 17th) evening. As I unwound from a weary day’s work, nightly news exhibits scrolled across the television screen: grieving South Korean parents, the search for flight 370, foiled murder plots, and on and on.
Emotionally drained after hearing heartbreaking cries and peering into bewildered eyes of adults and children, I wondered what words could possibly be said to ease the depth of pain being experienced by so many people throughout the world.
So, rather than write, I wept with those who pleaded with officials to find their son, rescue their mother or keep perpetrators behind prison walls.
I went to sleep considering the futility of approaching the anguished with Good Friday tracts.
My eyes opened this morning to the remembrance of Jesus’ words: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’” John 20: 19-21
It is because of Jesus’ indescribably beautiful and powerful resurrection that we celebrate this day as Good.
By our Lord and Savior’s gift of saving grace, we have been given peace, joy and the greatest power in the world – The Holy Spirit.
There is but one thing Jesus requests of those who have accepted His precious gift and call themselves by His name. He asks that we do as He did. Go into the world and spread His peace, joy and love to the lost, hurting and bewildered.