Journey to the Cross

Pause

Almost everyone wants to be noticed. Pretty much everybody desires to be seen as special, even extraordinary.

That kind of ambition can get in the way of the Christian walk, however. If there is to be any glory gained from living our lives, it’s important to recognize that all the credit goes eventually to the One who made us and gifted us.

Prepare now to yield your spirit to the Spirit in whom all true glory resides.

Listen

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

John 11:38–45

Think

We read a modern translation of the Bible for these devotions, but sometimes the old words of the King James are more memorable. In the King James version of this story, the ever practical Martha says to Jesus, “but Lord, by this time he stinketh.”

The funny words capture the anxiety that is in this story of Lazarus. We are all afraid that something in us surely “stinketh.” What part of yourself are you afraid to share with others? Where can God bring something in you back to life?

Jesus depends on us to come out from the dark, to stop hiding our talents and our ability to love. Jesus invites us to share our whole lives with the whole world. Lazarus, come out!

Mike Angell

Pray

God, I want to live. Help me to leave the dark behind and share myself with everyone I meet. Amen.

Go

We all fall short of the glory of God.
But being a follower of Jesus means taking the risk
That the resurrection-informed life is the better way.

Take the risk that your prayers might be powerful,
That love may in fact be the strongest thing of all,
Worth giving all you have that it might be known.

The glory of God will light your way.