Reading:    John 1:35-51

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).  The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”   John 1:41-43

Growing up, one of my favorite games was “Follow the Leader.”  I’m sure you’ve played it.  One person is the leader and everyone has to do what he says.  It was always a fun game, especially if you were the leader.  If you weren’t the leader, it wasn’t as fun, but you always knew that your turn would come soon and then you would be the leader.  So everyone played with the expectation that some time soon, he or she would be in charge.

I think sometimes this is the same game that I play with Jesus.  I’m happy to follow Him as the leader.  I gladly try to live up to His teachings.  But there are times when I must admit that I wish I was in charge.  There are times when I follow grudgingly because I don’t exactly want to do what Jesus says.  I even try to take my turn at leading my life, though I always mess it up.  Sometimes “Follow the Leader” just isn’t what it is cracked up to be.

It’s hard to follow Jesus.  It always has been.  He doesn’t just ask us to give Him our spare time, but to give Him our whole lives.  He wants us to follow Him anytime and anywhere.  There are times when He even calls us to leave things behind and follow Him.  But life isn’t about waiting our turn to lead our lives.  We’ve had our turn and we’ve messed it up.  Now we have the opportunity to follow Christ as our true leader.  It’s His turn to lead, and our turn to follow.

Challenge:  What in life are you trying to lead yourself?  Give your whole life over to the leading of God.

Prayer Request:  Pray that God’s leading will be fully evident this Good Friday and Easter weekend.

Reading:    Matthew 3:13-17

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”   Matthew 3:16-17

What do we have to do to get God to love us?  Nothing.  It wasn’t when Jesus had a great following of disciples and had cleansed the temple and was at the height of His ministry that God’s voice called from the heavens saying that He loved Jesus and that He was pleased with Him.  It was in the beginning.  It was before He began healing or teaching.  Jesus had basically done nothing to earn God’s love.  Yet God spoke and said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

So often in life we try to earn the love of others.  We do special things for people so that they will love us.  We go the extra mile so that people will be pleased with us and reward us with love and admiration.  But despite what the movies try to teach us, we can’t earn love from another.  Love is something that we cannot earn.  We can’t make others love us and we can’t force the love of God.

The good news is that even though we can’t earn God’s love, He gives it to us freely.  God loves us not because of what we do, but because of who we are.  God loves us for us, even if he isn’t always in love with the things that we do.  God is pleased with who we are, though not necessarily with how we live.  No matter what we do, God will always love us because we are His creation.

We can’t do anything to earn God’s love.  God loves us despite us.  Isn’t that reason enough to do everything we can to love Him back?

Challenge:  Is your service to God a reflection of your love for Him or an attempt to earn His love?  Accept God’s free gift of love and begin to love Him back.

Prayer Request:  Pray that God’s love will be accepted by those who need it most this Good Friday and Easter weekend.

Reading:    Luke 2:1-40

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7

Have you ever noticed that things that you think are insignificant somehow end up being quite significant?  You have an extra nut left over when assembling your son’s bicycle.  At the time you don’t think it is a problem.  When the wheel pops off you figure it out.  A funny charge shows up on your credit card.  You write yourself a note to call about it.  A month later you discover someone has charged thousands of dollars in your name.  Sometimes the things we think have little significance end up being the exact opposite.  They may be little, but they have a whole lot of significance.

I imagine Bethlehem was crowded with people for the census.  I’m sure other children were, born in and around the town at the same time as Jesus.  To the world around Him, Jesus birth had little significance.  The day He was born almost everyone went on with their business as usual.  They certainly didn’t act as they would if they had known the Son of God lay close by in a manger.  Except for a few shepherds the day went almost unnoticed.  For the world, Jesus’ birth had little significance, but to God’s eternal kingdom it was filled with significance.

The world has continued to view Jesus with a relative degree of indifference.  But the importance of Christ doesn’t come through the eyes of the world.  What the world may view as insignificant, God views as irreplaceably valuable, even when it comes to us.  The world may consider us to have little significance, but God loves us enough that He sent His Son to save us.  To Him, we are irreplaceably valuable.

Isn’t it great to know that in a world filled with ever changing views that it is in God that we find our true significance?

Challenge:  How has the world told you that you are insignificant?  Stop listening to the world and seek God’s appraisal of you.

Prayer Request:  Pray that all will hear they are loved by God this Good Friday and Easter Weekend.

Reading:    Malachi 4:1-6

See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.  Malachi 4:5-6

A watch is not your friend in a waiting room.  When your appointment time has already passed and you’ve read all of the old magazines, your watch just isn’t your friend.  Look at it all you want, but that second hand isn’t going to move any faster.  Squirm in your seat if you wish, but it’s not going to make time accelerate.  It’s no use trying to remember who was there before you and wondering if somehow they called your name but you didn’t hear it.  There’s nothing you can do to hurry time.  When your name is called it will be time, not a second sooner.  Staring at your watch isn’t going to make that time come any quicker.

What’s the best way to wait?  To be active doing something.  Reading a book or working a puzzle will keep your mind off of the wait.  You won’t forget that there’s something coming, but you won’t be anxious waiting for it.  Waiting is just a part of life.  We wait for all sorts of things every day, and on a larger, eternal scale we are waiting as well.  We wait for the day that Christ will return and redeem the world.  Waiting is unavoidable, but how we wait is a different story.  We can wait anxiously or patiently.  We can pace back and forth in our souls focused on watching the seconds go by before Christ’s return or we can spend our time waiting in active service to Christ.

No one knows exactly when Jesus will return.  I hope He comes soon.  We will all have to wait, but we have the power to choose how we wait.  Will our lives reduced to counting the seconds until Jesus returns or will we be actively serving God as we patiently wait for His coming?  Nothing will make time actually move faster, but we will enjoy life much more if we learn to patiently wait for God.

Challenge:  When it comes to waiting for God, are you waiting patiently or anxiously?  Live life in Christ now as you wait for His return.

Prayer Request:  Pray that our worship of God will be eager, patient anticipation and not anxious pleas for His coming this Good Friday and Easter weekend.