Good morning, friends.
Our verse for today comes from Acts 2:32, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.”
It’s kind of a big deal, this raising up that God did of Jesus. As it turns out, though, none of us have any firsthand knowledge of that event. We don’t have any secondhand or thirdhand knowledge either, or any other number of hands. We do have a few accounts of what a few people saw and experienced, though we would consider them extremely brief for the uniqueness of the circumstances being described. The ones that are not considered embellished or unreliable are included in what we call God’s Word. And they have even less detail than the others, and what is provided doesn’t seem to always agree with itself. Particulars vary as no single version walks us through a timeline of what happened when, and how. We get a few chaotic scenes, some random appearances of a risen Jesus, and mostly nothing else for the forty days He was said to remain here before returning to heaven. To oversimplify it to a degree, all we have are some recovered copies of the written words of some men who clearly had an agenda in recording what they wrote. We have nothing tangible left behind by the Man who was dead and then lived again to convince us that it really occurred.
So, why do you believe? What has convinced you that this story is true as opposed to something else? And if you believe it, what does that say about you? What effect does it have on you to say that you believe that Jesus was dead, but then God raised Him out of the tomb? Peter probably spread his arms out and pointed to the group of followers as he declared that they all were witnesses of the resurrection. Evidently, witnessing that was all they needed for something radical to happen to them and their priorities. We didn’t get to witness it, but the effect is supposed to be the same. If you’ve been convinced of the miracle of Easter, then God says you are His witness, as reliable as the men and women who saw and spoke to Jesus. If you truly believe, God has given that faith to you, and nothing can overcome it.
As we seek Him today, believe in God during your struggle even as you believe in Him about the resurrection.
Have an excellent Tuesday.
#4 Rich Holt
Dad of Ripken, Koy, TrishaJean, Samantha, Kakie Holiday and Raleigh
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
