Daily Devotional for Saturday, April 6, 2024

Well, it is sleep-in Saturday. I pray you have a great weekend. Have you ever found yourself caught or stuck or trapped or tangled up or wrapped up in something? For example, have you ever been on your roof and when you got ready to come down discovered that your ladder had fallen down onto the ground? Or, have you ever been stuck or trapped in a phone call with someone and you could not get off the line? Or, have you ever been at work and you felt you could not leave when you wanted due to all the work you knew you had to get done? Or, have you ever been trapped in traffic when you were running late? It is in these times we often pray for divine intervention. 

There are examples in Scripture where God’s people found themselves trapped with no escape: Hebrews at the Red Sea with an approaching Egyptian army; Daniel in the lion’s den; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. We love these stories and children especially do because God intervened. But there is another trap every single human finds themselves in today also.

Read Hebrews 2:14-15, "Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. (15) Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (NLT). Due to the Fall, we are born trapped into sin. Only Jesus’ death and Resurrection can free us from this trap. He broke and smashed that trap completely.

An additional trap Jesus Christ’s death set us free from is the fear of death. In most surveys, the #1 fear people say they have is death and for good reason. We fear what we do not know and have never experienced. We ask question such as: 

1. 1. Is there life after death and if so, what kind of life is it? 
   2. Is there a heaven and a hell and if there are, who goes there?
   3. Do I just cease to exist and become food for worms?

Hollywood and pop culture have influenced many people’s thinking about this. Many people today feel trapped by all kinds of fears, phobias, weaknesses, and sins. Hebrews 2:14-15, promises us that Jesus Christ has broken and smashed all of those traps and fears for us. There is no one else on this planet that can do that for you. This is why we must trust God’s promises in Hebrews 2:1b-3:

“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. (3) Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up” (NLT).

Sometimes it is easier to focus on our struggle, or sin than on our Savior. Sometimes it easier to keep our eyes on what is besetting us rather than on the One who has set us free. Worrying over “what ifs” only steals the joy of your salvation. This is why the Apostle Paul could write what he did in Romans 8:31-38:

What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? (32) God did not keep back His own Son, but He gave Him for us. If God did this, won't He freely give us everything else? (33) If God says His chosen ones are acceptable to hHm, can anyone bring charges against them? (34) Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now He is at God's right side, speaking to Him for us (35) Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? (36)  It is exactly as the Scriptures say, “For you we face death all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.” (37)  In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. (38) I am sure that nothing can separate us from God's love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, (39) and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (NLT).

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, knew how the Corinthians feared death. So, almost the whole chapter deals with it. And near the end he writes this in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, “Death has lost the battle! (55) Where is its victory? Where is its sting?” (NLT). To the Christian, death has no victory and it has no sting. Jesus came and died for us so that we don’t have to be afraid of illness, evil, or a shaky economy. I’m not saying we will never encounter sickness, hardships, and challenges—because we will. But Jesus invites us to trust Him for deliverance from anything that could hold us captive. He invites us to be spiritually whole and live in the light of His freedom.

Years ago actress Amanda Peet was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She has starred in many movies and TV shows. Colbert asked her some questions about a HBO show she was in called “Togetherness,’”which many of the characters struggle through midlife crises. Below is a piece of the interview (Source: Ray Comfort, The Final Curtain, p. 89-90).

Stephen Colbert (SC): "You've got a lovely life. What do you know from the mid-life crisis, is this a stretch for you?"

Amanda Peet (AP): "No! Forty-four is … quite something."

SC: "You don't look like a personal crisis to me. What is your crisis?"

AP: "I fear death!"

SC: "Okay. … Well … Keep it light. We all die. It's the late night talk show, keep it light, keep it light. Maybe you'll go to heaven. You'll die and go the heaven."

AP: "Okay. That's where I need help. You're Catholic, right? I'm Jewish."

SC: "What do you believe?"

AP: "I need to know what to believe in!"

SC: "Like, what happens when you die?"

AP: "Yes. I don't want to be a bag of dust!"

SC: "I don't really know ... I don't know what happens. I kind of believe, I kind of want the pearly gates and all that.

AP: "This is not inspirational."

SC: "Not helping?"

Or for example, take Larry King, another late night TV talk host:

The New York Times recently (2015) reported that television commentator Larry King "is obsessed with death." His day begins with reading obituaries, and he ponders "who will give the eulogy at his funeral." He smiles as he thinks it might be Bill Clinton, and then his face becomes blank. "But I won't be there to see it."

He has had "a heart attack, quintuple bypass, prostate cancer, diabetes, and seven divorces." He was 77 years old when the television news station CNN dropped him, and when this happened he really became aware that there will come a day when he dies. When he learned from television of the death of Osama bin Laden, this drove him to jump up on his feet. "I needed to be on the air. I needed a red light to go on." He realized he "had nowhere to go."

To move against aging and death, he takes hormone pills for human growth, four of them each day. He plans on his body to be frozen so that someday he will live again. The New York Times writer reports: "It's nuts, concedes King—but at least it gives him a shred of hope." Larry King says, "Other people have no hope” (Source: “King's Morbid Fixation, The Week, (9-11-15).

Larry King died on January 23, 2021 at the age of 87 and I know his “shred of hope” was not enough. If Amanda Peet would trust in Jesus, she would experience that her fear of death would evaporate. If Larry King had trusted Jesus, the same would have been for him. We just celebrated Easter a week ago and it is a reminder of a biblical truth and promise: death has on grip or hold or power over the disciple of Jesus Christ. I pray that is you.  Do you fear death? Keep your eyes on Jesus — He proved death is impotent for the disciple of Jesus Christ. 

Scripture To Meditate On: 1 John 4:18, “Love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (NLT).

Prayer To Prayer: “Dear Jesus, you’re my Heavenly Father. I yield to You without reservation. Through the cross of Jesus and the Resurrection of Jesus, I have experienced forgiveness, freedom, and deliverance. Set me free from anything that separates me from Your best. I turn away from ungodliness and fear and I embrace the truth of Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! — Pastor Kelly