In Our Place: Lenten DevotionsSample

Take heart!

The incredible eight-day span from Palm Sunday to Easter Day is usually called Holy Week by awed and grateful Christians. It was the greatest burst of God’s saving works that the planet had ever seen, surpassing even creation itself. It encompassed nothing less than the Savior’s mighty victory over mankind’s most terrible enemies: sin, Satan, death, judgment, and hell.

For most of that week, however, Jesus’ disciples were under a severe strain. Many of the things Jesus told them made no sense to them at the time, and what they did understand they didn’t like hearing. On Thursday of that amazing week, they celebrated one last Passover meal with Jesus, then tasted the first ever Communion meal and received the body and blood along with the bread and wine. Jesus washed their dusty feet, one by one, as a powerful demonstration of servant-leadership.

Most of those evening hours were taken up by a lengthy teaching session. It was a sobering preview of the warfare and hardships that awaited them and anyone who openly serves the Lord and his kingdom. But it was also a calm and serene proclamation of final victory to all who were bound together with Jesus in faith. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Here is hope for all believers today who groan and are afraid. The Bible tells us that our lives are hidden in Christ. Outwardly it may seem that we are wasting away. But that is an illusion. The reality is that our lives, our hopes, our relationships are in Christ’s wonderful hands. When your life is full of trouble, take heart! Christ has overcome. He won; you win. Exhale now.