Category: First Things First Devotional

“Don’t be alarmed,” he told them, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been resurrected! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. Mark 16:6 HCSB

Easter is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There will be many people who dress up in new clothes and go to church. There will be children who search for Easter eggs and there will be the talk of the Easter bunny that brings candy. The reality is that Easter is all about the hope we find in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of His resurrection there is hope. We, as believers, have the confidence that we too will someday be resurrected to live eternally with Jesus in heaven.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is vital to the Christian faith. Jesus promised that He would rise from the dead, so we can believe that He keeps His promises. Christ’s resurrection gives us the assurance that we also will be resurrected someday. The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us even today as we strive to live for Jesus. We were spiritually dead, but through Christ we can have a new life, an abundant life, living with purpose and meaning. The resurrection is the substance of the Church’s message to a lost and dying world. There is hope. There is forgiveness. There is eternal life. There is reason for living. We must proclaim the resurrection message to the world. That is the Easter message!

Challenge: Go to church this Easter and celebrate the risen Lord. Thank God that you have the hope of forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life. Share the Easter message with others and invite them to go to church with you.

When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; they were amazed and alarmed. Mark 16:5 HCSB

The website 25 Spectacular Wonders of the World lists 25 different amazing wonders of our world. Sites that made the list include the Panama Canal, the Channel Tunnel between France and the United Kingdom, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Grand Canyon, the Roman Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, and the Pyramids. I have had the pleasure of seeing a few of these wonders and they are truly amazing, but nothing compared to what the women found on the morning after the Sabbath.

When the women entered the tomb and did not find the body of Christ but instead found a man dressed in a white robe, they were amazed. They were expecting to find the body of Jesus to anoint with special spices and perfumes that would help mask the odor of a decaying body. Instead, they found an empty tomb. The resurrection of a dead body would have been truly amazing, even more amazing than any of the 25 Spectacular Wonders of the World.

Challenge: Are you amazed that Jesus actually died and rose from the dead? The resurrection of Jesus really is amazing and should be proclaimed to everyone in every nation. How has His resurrection impacted your life? What can you do to communicate the amazing truth of the resurrection of Jesus?

But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. Then the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “This man really was God’s Son!” Mark 15:37-39 HCSB

I volunteered at the Senior PGA golf tournament. The identification badge they gave me allowed me to be on the grounds and to get into many of the venues, but there were some places that were provided by sponsors that only those with special credentials were allowed to enter. My access to those areas was denied because I lacked the proper identification badge.

A heavy curtain that hung in the Temple separated the main area from the Most Holy Place (2 Chronicles 3:8-14), a place reserved by God for Himself. Symbolically, the curtain separated a Holy God from the sinful people. Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place annually on the Day of Atonement to make the sacrifice for the sins of the people. When Jesus died, this curtain was torn in two, indicating that His death was the final sacrifice that needed to be made for our sins. Of note, the curtain was torn from top to bottom illustrating that God had done the tearing and He had opened the way for all men to have access to God.

Challenge: Thank God for providing the perfect and final sacrifice for your sins. Praise Him that you now have direct access to God and do not have to go through a priest or other medium to talk with Him.

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Mark 15:33-34 HCSB

Have you ever felt alone and forsaken? Have you ever been lost and did not know where to turn? Have you ever felt helpless? Have you ever felt that no one cared what you were going through? These are natural feelings all of us have felt at some point in our lives.

Jesus felt these same feelings as He hung on the cross dying. He cried out to God the Father asking, “Why have You forsaken Me?” He was quoting David’s Psalm 22:1. The darkness that filled the skies began at noon and increased until three in the afternoon when it was almost completely dark. Many believe that the darkness indicated that Jesus’ death was a supernatural event and the darkness represented the evil of all of the sins of the world that would be placed on Jesus. Because God is a Holy God and cannot be associated with anything evil, at the moment all the sins of every person in the world were placed on Jesus, God turned away. Jesus felt as though He had been forsaken because it was the first time He had ever experienced not having the loving presence of His Father. Jesus had to experience everything that we must experience amidst our sin and shame. As sinners we are not acceptable to God and we have a broken relationship with Him. It is only through Christ that our
sins can be forgiven and our relationship restored.

Thank God for providing the perfect sacrifice for your sins. Thank Jesus for paying the ultimate sacrifice of taking your sins upon Himself and dying in your place. Know that Jesus has experienced everything you have experienced and understands how you feel when you are rejected and feel forsaken. Take all of your cares and concerns to Jesus. Only He can bring peace to your broken soul.

They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on Him. And they began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They kept hitting Him on the head with a reed and spitting on Him. Getting down on their knees, they were paying Him homage. Mark 15:17-19 HCSB

As a child I was occasionally ridiculed and I have observed other children who seemed to be the target of children who made fun of the way they walked, the color of their hair, or because they were more scholastic. The list of characteristics that are used to taunt could be endless. As a student pastor I observed that teenagers could be excessively cruel. They would gather in cliques and ridicule others who they did not accept into in their group. Tragic are the sobering accounts of teens that have even taken their own lives because of the ridicule they suffered at the hands of other teenagers via the internet.

The soldiers mocked and taunted Jesus. They dressed Him in a purple robe which was a color that was often worn by royalty, prophets, or the wealthy. The crown of thorns represented a crown like a king would wear. They even saluted Him and kneeled down to him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” I can just imagine the laughs and jeers that followed. But Jesus humbly accepted all of the ridicule for our sake. We are the ones who deserve to be mistreated and killed for our sins, but Jesus suffered in our place so we would not have to experience such shame and mockery.

Challenge: Praise Jesus for what He has done for you. Always treat others with dignity and respect. Take up for those who may be suffering at the hands of those who ridicule at their expense. Celebrate the authority and power rightfully given to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 HCSB

Being an only child, I did not have the privilege of having any brothers or sisters. I learned how to play by myself and I think I grew up a bit faster because I grew up in a more adult world, surrounded by adults. At times I have wished for a brother or sister, especially to share the good times, but also to share difficult times when only a brother or sister could really understand how I might be feeling. I never served in the military but have been told that a soldier depends on his fellows soldiers much like brothers and sisters depend upon each other.

Having a lot of friends is not always desirable. Many friends desert you when difficult times come, but a loyal friend will stick with you through the good and the bad of life. A loyal friend is someone in whom you can trust and find comfort, peace, and blessings. He is someone you seek for counsel in times of trouble. A good, loyal friend will be just like a brother that you can depend on even when times become difficult.

Challenge: Look around and count your blessings. Thank God for loyal friends who have stuck with you through the ups and downs in life. Praise God for your brothers and sisters. Look for ways you can be a loyal friend to others.

Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4 HCSB

We all desire to have friends who are loyal and faithful. A loyal person is someone you can always count on to be there when needed. The faithful will be with you even in the darkest hours. Certainly these are traits that we seek in a spouse, but we also desire parents and children to be loyal and faithful. Beyond immediate family, we also seek employees and employers who exhibit loyalty and faithfulness. There is even comfort in having a faithful and loyal dog, who enthusiastically greets you with a wagging tail when you come home .

The Hebrew words that are used here mean love, loyalty, kindness, faithfulness, trustworthiness, and reliability. These are important virtues you will find throughout Scripture. Loyalty and faithfulness are attributes of God. Consequently, we should seek to be loyal and faithful in all of our relationships and business dealings. To tie them around your neck implies they are to be permanent attributes in your life and principles by which to live. Writing them on the tablet of your heart also implies a permanence as if you were engraving it on a stone tablet. These are qualities that everyone should develop.

Challenge: Would others describe you as being loyal and faithful? What do you need to do today to show your loyalty and faithfulness to your spouse, your family, and your employer or employees? Ask God to show you how you can become more loyal and faithful to those in your circle of influence.

Patience is better than power, and controlling one’s temper, than capturing a city. Proverbs 16:32 HCSB

We live in a world that demands things in seconds instead of minutes, hours, or days. I can remember the first computer I owned. It would take several minutes to connect to the internet and then it would require additional time to load a program. Now we expect internet connectivity to happen in seconds and get frustrated when it doesn’t. We seem to want instantaneous results and we are not willing to wait. I have heard people pray, “Lord give me patience, and give it to me now.” In our society, we seem to have very little patience.

This proverb reminds us that being patient and controlling one’s temper is greater than having power or capturing a city. Often our lack of patience with others seems to fuel anger and conflict. Losing one’s temper is usually destructive, while exhibiting patience and trying to understand the other person’s point of view can have a calming effect in the midst of conflict. It may seem to take more power to control one’s temper than it does to capture a city.

Challenge: With whom do you need to be more patient? How can being patient help diffuse a potential conflict? Pray for patience. Do not get ahead of what God wants you to do. Wait on the Lord. Read Isaiah 40:31.

As charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. Proverbs 3:9-10 HCSB

One of the favorite activities of our family when our children were young was to go camping. We purchased a Coleman Pop-up Camper and over the years we created many fond memories as we roasted marshmallows over the campfire under the starlit sky and listened to the serenade of bugs chirping in the trees. The campfire is central to having a good camping experience. It is necessary to have some kindling wood and some dry wood to get a fire started and then adding more wood to keep the fire going.

This proverb reminds us that just like adding more wood or kindling to the fire to keep it going, a dispute or argument needs strife to keep things heated up and going. There are some people who seem to enjoy creating and fueling conflict. They like to keep things stirred up.

Challenge: Do not add fuel to the fire of conflict. Be a person who puts the fire out instead of stirring it up when it comes to disputes and arguments. Do what you can to reduce conflict and act as an ambassador for peace.

Don’t make friends with an angry man, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Proverbs 22:24 HCSB

As parents of four children, my wife and I always monitored their selection of friends. We knew that it was important for our children to select friends that would serve as positive influences. We encouraged them to stay involved in our church youth group and invested for them to attend youth camps, retreats, and special events as a way of cultivating Christian friendships. We also encouraged our children to bring their friends to our home so we knew with whom they were spending time and what they were doing.

This proverb emphasizes the importance of selecting friends and especially avoiding those who are subject to instant outbursts of rage. Angry and hot-tempered would not be qualities that we would seek for a friend to exhibit. We have all seen people who anger easily and have witnessed the destruction that often follows. Anger is an emotion that God created, however it is only when directed towards that which is evil or unjust it can be positive.

Challenge: Be careful in selecting your friends. Surround yourself with friends that will be positive influences in your life. Make sure you keep your temper and anger under control and you will find yourself friend-worthy.