LISTEN
REFLECT
I’m a big college football fan. I love following my team, watching the games, tracking wins and losses, making predictions about the possibilities of bowl games or national championships. When my team loses, it feels like a crushing defeat. But when they win, I’m on top of the world! The adrenaline rush—especially when I’m in the stadium surrounded by 200,000 other rabid fans, cheering so loud my voice gives out—is like no other feeling.
Sometimes I’m challenged, though, by the fact that I can get so excited and amped up over a football game and yet I treat the resurrection as something that just happened one time thousands of years ago. In reality, the resurrection is the pivotal moment in all of human history. If it had not happened, our faith would be dead, God would be a liar and there would be no hope. We should be ecstatic at the very thought of Christ triumphing over the grave, conquering sin and death. But when was the last time we really acted like that? When was the last time the resurrection gave you as much joy as seeing your team win?
Spend time with God, asking Him to help you recapture the awe and amazement you felt when you first learned of the resurrection. Pray that you would be so enraptured by the good news that it spills over to others.
JOURNAL
For a more in-depth devotional time, we suggest you listen to the story again and think through the following six questions:
- What did I like in the story?
- What did I find confusing in this story?
- What did I learn about humanity?
- What did I learn about God/Jesus/God’s Spirit?
- How can I apply this story to my life?
- Who can I tell this story to?
Written by Hera*, on behalf of the StoryRunners team
*name changed for security reasons