Easter: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Old Testament Lesson

Isaiah 4:2-6

One of the things that we always see in Scripture that God is in the restoration business.  He is always about restoration.  He restores His people.  He restores their hope, their lives, their dreams, who they are. Today, He tells the people of Israel that He will restore them; He has not given up on them, and they will live again. 

God will restore, God will bring new life. That is a joy that we get to share that good news, but more importantly, that we get to hear that good news.  God not only wants to restore this world, He wants to restore each of us.  Today, may we feel the healing power of His restoration.  

New Testament Lesson

Ephesians 4:1-16

We see in this passage we all have different gifts, but the same goal.  God wants to bring about the restoration to the world and to the people of the world. And we don't all have the same gift. We arent' all the same, we can't all do it in the same way, we can't all be everything.  We can only be who we are called to be.  We don't have every gift, but we have our gift. 

We are all called to something. We are all gifted in some great way.  We are all made in the image of God and made for some great purpose.  You are divinely made and divinely called. There is something that God has for you today for you and you alone. Today, He has gifted you and He has called you.  May we use what He has given us!  

Gospel Lesson

Matthew 8:28-34

We see Jesus bring restoration today to his man possessed with many demons (notice a theme here?).  But, notice something interesting about this text?  When the people came out to see Jesus, they asked Him to leave. They didn't want to change, didn't want to leave behind their old lives, they wanted to remain as they were. So, they asked Him to leave. 

And, we can't imagine that. How could someone ask Jesus to leave?  But, if He calls us to something we don't want to do, if He calls us to leave behind something we don't want to leave, if He calls us to change in some major way, what will do? Will we be like the man possessed and welcome this chance for new life?  Or will we be like the people and say, no we like things as they are, won't you leave? 

When Jesus comes to us with the offer of new life, may we never ask Him to leave.