Daily Devotional For Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Good morning Southside! It is Tuesday ALL DAY!! This week is supposed to be sunny and nice all week with a high of 80 on Easter. So, let me ask you a question. Do you like darkness? Most of us do not. We do not like walking into dark rooms where there is no light. There are times we prefer darkness such when we are going to bed to sleep or going into a movie theater. This Holy Week starts off on a high for Jesus and His disciples, with Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem with people shouting, “Hosanna , blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Can you imagine that moment? No one except Jesus knew now quickly this bright moment would turn into a very dark one. This story mirrors life doesn’t it?
You’re on a high and things are going great and then a medical report comes back with bad results. Or, you just bought a new car or bought a larger house and you lose your job. Sometimes we as disciples can ignore or deny the dark truth when it is staring us in the face. We can get uncomfortable with the truth because we are so entrenched in our position and opinion we will not consider this is correct. We keep ourselves in darkness because we believe the person sharing this truth is no longer trustworthy or is lying or is misinformed.
We see this with the disciples during Jesus’ last week. In the Upper Room He tells them that one of them is going to betray Him. This was such a shock, all four Gospels record it: Matthew 26:24–25, Mark 14:18–21, Luke 22:21–23, and John 13:21–30. You can almost see their mouths agape and their eyes looking at suspicion at each other. You can almost hear them asking each other, “Are you this one? Do you know who it is?” Jesus’ disciples cannot believe that after such a high moment, one of His own disciples would betray Him. In Matthew 26, Jesus told Peter that he would deny even being one of His disciples. Peter vehemently denies he would ever deny Jesus. Well, you know how that story ends.
And in Matthew 26:31, Jesus informs His disciples that they are all going to flee like sheep when He is arrested, tried, and crucified. We don’t give rewards or throw parties to bringers of bad news. We tend to try to silence them. We can ignore the truth, deny it, be angered by it, or attack the person who is delivering it. But if we face the truth and accept it, we can be freed from its darkness and empowered to go forward in the light. We will gain a great deal of spiritual momentum when we are willing to say, “Lord, You give and You take away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Assignment: Think back to a time in your life when darkness enveloped you. How did you handle it after the initial shock? Did you go immediately to the Lord? To someone else? Get mad? Tried to intervene and created a different result? What did you learn from this situation and looking back on it, what would you do differently if you could go back to it?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 John 1:5-7, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. (6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (7) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, I ask for Your truth to be my anchor, my comfort, and my guide. Give me the discernment to choose Your truth over the lies of the world. Illuminate my heart and mind so I will understand Your will and follow Your ways. I pray Your Spirit will lead me in all I do. Help me reject the darkness and deceit of the world and embrace Your radiant light and truth. When the darkness comes, I will look to You, the Light of the world, instead of that darkness. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly