Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
How quickly the need changed in that locked room! Fear ebbed, anxiety drained away, and there was joy and excitement! I’ll bet there was also some embarrassment. Jesus showed them his hands and side, and this gesture not only authenticated his identity, it also was a reminder that the disciples had abandoned him.
Jesus does three things to deal with the disciples’ guilt and shame. He greets them without recrimination. His first words are not words of reproof or condemnation, but of peace. Then he recommissions them. Nothing suggests belief in someone else like responsibility. Jesus entrusts his mission to these men, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.”
Hear Jesus’ words to his disciples as a message to you.
Put your name into the sentence of commissioning and read it out loud.
FAMILY TIME—
Talk to your family about church as people who gather and then are sent.
