Words of Hope Daily Devotional
START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE
THE DEVOTIONAL IS AVAILABLE IN YOUR EMAIL AND IN PRINT.
The Words of Hope Devotional is a non-profit, donor-supported publication whose goal is to encourage readers to grow in faith through the practice of daily Bible reading and prayer.
THE DEVOTIONAL IS AVAILABLE IN YOUR EMAIL AND IN PRINT.
The Words of Hope Devotional is a non-profit, donor-supported publication whose goal is to encourage readers to grow in faith through the practice of daily Bible reading and prayer.
DINNER WITH JESUS
Breakfast on the Beach
Read: John 20:11-21
Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended. (v. 17)
In my final year of swimming lessons, I learned some basic lifeguarding skills. My instructor emphasized the importance of approaching a panicking swimmer with caution. He explained that a drowning person will cling so powerfully that a would-be rescuer cannot perform their saving work.
After Jesus’s crucifixion, Mary Magdalene must have felt like she was drowning. The beloved teacher in whom she had placed her hope was dead and buried. Then the risen Jesus appeared to her. Mary wanted nothing more than to hold him and never let go. Surprisingly, Jesus told Mary not to cling to him. His reason? “I have not yet ascended to the Father” (v. 17). He has something better in store for her.
To complete his saving work, Jesus must ascend to heaven. In letting Jesus go, Mary would experience his closest embrace. Jesus’s subsequent disappearances and reappearances establish that he is never far away. Mary didn’t need to cling to Jesus because she wasn’t losing him.
It’s hard for us to imagine that a Jesus we cannot see, hear, or hold is better than the Jesus the disciples knew during his earthly ministry. What the risen, ascended Jesus promises is that though we cannot see him, he is closer than we can imagine. And that though we cannot hold him, he is holding us. We hold on to the hope that, no matter what we must let go of in this life, Jesus always has something better in store for us.
As you pray, trust that Jesus is holding on to you.
About the Author
Ben Van Arragon
Ben Van Arragon is a preacher and writer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He preaches and teaches the Bible in church, online, and anywhere else he has the opportunity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rev. First Last
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including Why Doesn’t God Act More Like God, Christ in the Psalms, and A Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
The Person Who Carried His Cross
Read: Luke 23:26-33 They seized one Simon of Cyrene . . . and laid on him the cross. (v. 26) There is a street in Jerusalem known as the Via Dolorosa, the “Way of Sorrows.” It is the route Christ
The Judge Who Condemned Him
Read: John 18:28-19:16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. (v. 16) The Apostles’ Creed mentions three names among its 100 or so words. The first, of course, is Jesus; the second is Mary; the third is
The Disciple Who Denied Him
Read: Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75 And immediately the rooster crowed. (v. 74) Many of the people who welcomed Jesus with loud “Hosannas” on Palm Sunday must also have shouted, “Crucify him!” on Good Friday. It’s perilously easy to betray or deny
The Man Who Betrayed Him
Read: Matthew 26:20-25 Is it I, Lord? (v. 22) Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion sets Matthew’s text of the passion story to dramatic music. When the soloist singing Jesus’s words announces to the disciples that one of them will
The Crowd That Acclaimed Him
Read: Matthew 21:1-11 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (v. 9) Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Notice three things about this familiar story. First, it was a deliberate
The Heart of the Gospel
Read: Isaiah 53:5-8 The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (v. 6) What is the central message of the Christian faith? The apostle Paul summarized his preaching and teaching ministry as “the word of the cross”