“Early on Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.’” (John 20:1)
Thoughts: What if Mary had gone to the tomb and found it still sealed by the stone as she expected? The darkness of that Sunday morning would not have lifted. The world would still be shrouded in spiritual darkness and the entire human race would be under the cloud of death. But the stone had been moved, the tomb was empty—and everything changed. For the first time in human history, death was defeated, the power of sin was checked and a way was opened for God and man to be reconciled. The empty tomb and the risen Savior—that’s why I can rise early on any morning to an inextinguishable light that fills my soul, energizes my being and fills my heart with the hope of eternal life. The empty tomb and the risen Savior—that’s why I can leave the guilt of my past in the past, find power in the present to face every challenge, and know that my life will still have purpose when it is over. Thank God he blew Mary’s expectations that morning—it made all the difference! Jaroslav Pelikan, the renowned Christian and medieval intellectual historian, said it best: “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.” But he is risen. He is risen indeed. And that’s all that matters!
On this day… in 1930, Missionary-linguist Frank C. Laubach wrote in a letter, “I must talk about God, or I cannot keep Him in my mind. I must give Him away in order to have Him.”
Prayer: Dear Father, first of all, thank you for the empty tomb. If Mary had found the tomb as she had expected, I would not be offering this prayer this morning. I would be lost and hopeless. Thank you for blowing her expectations that morning. Now Father, I pray that the reality of this resurrection event will so transform my life that its message will burn in my heart and flow ceaselessly from my lips. May I feel like Frank Laubach—that I must talk about God. Fill my mind with your truth, my heart with your love, and my mouth with your praise. May the empty tomb fill the review mirror of my life! May the Risen Lord occupy my every thought! May your promise of eternal life energize my every move! May the kind of life that I live today and every day leave a testimony of love and gratitude for the greatest event the world has ever known—the resurrection.
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