More Than Ordinary Boldness

Reading : Acts 4:1-12

Salvation is found in no one else, 

for there is no other name under heaven 

given to mankind by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

Peter and John are summoned before the rulers because they had openly proclaimed that Jesus had risen from the dead. With striking courage, Peter shows that the resurrection of Jesus is not merely a private conviction, but a public truth to be declared. He says clearly that Jesus, whom they crucified, is the One God raised from the dead. His boldness teaches us two important truths. First, it tells us the truth about the human heart. Jesus came healing, serving, and loving, yet people rejected Him and put Him to death. That shows how deeply sin has wounded the world and each of us. We must be honest about that, or our faith becomes proud and shallow.

But Peter is also bold about God’s grace. Though people rejected Jesus, God raised Him from the dead. Human sin is real, but it does not have the last word. God still rules. God still loves. God still restores. Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.” What people threw away, God made the foundation of salvation. The healing of the lame man proves that Jesus is still alive and still at work. He is not only a figure from the past. He is the living Christ.

This passage calls us to the same kind of boldness. We must be humble enough to admit our sin and our need for mercy. But we must also be joyful and brave enough to say that Jesus is alive, and that salvation is found in Him alone. The church is here to tell a broken world that God has acted in Christ to save, heal, and restore. To live in Eastertide is to stand humbly, speak clearly, and trust joyfully that the living Christ still saves.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus is alive. Make me humble about my sin and bold about Your grace. Help me to trust Christ, my cornerstone, and to live as a faithful witness to His saving name. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus

Reading : Acts 3:1-16

Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, 

but what I do have I give you.

 Acts 3:6

Eastertide reminds us that Jesus is alive, not only in memory but in power. In Acts 3, Peter and John meet a man who had never been able to walk. Peter begins with honesty: “Silver and gold I do not have.” He does not pretend to have what he lacks. But he does not stop there. He adds, “What I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Peter offers what he has, and what he has is faith in the risen Jesus.

This is a beautiful picture of Christian living. God does not ask us to give what we do not have. He asks us to offer what He has already placed in our hands. We may not have wealth, influence, or answers for every problem. But we can still offer prayer, kindness, hope, encouragement, compassion, and the name of Jesus. Christian action begins when we stop pretending and start giving ourselves honestly to the needs around us.

When the crowd gathers in amazement, Peter quickly points away from himself. He asks, “Why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?” Peter knows that the healing did not come from his own strength. It came from the living Christ. Then he boldly says, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” That is the heart of Easter: Jesus was crucified, but He is now risen and glorified.

To live Christ in Eastertide is to trust that Jesus is still at work today. He uses ordinary people who are willing to offer what they have in His name. When our small gifts are surrendered to Him, the risen Lord can do more than we imagine.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus is alive. Teach us to offer You what we have and to trust You to use it for Your glory. Help us to point others to Christ and to live each day in the power of His resurrection. Amen.

 

Seeing God in Jesus

Reading : John 12:44–50

I know that his command leads to eternal life. 

John 12:50

Jesus speaks with urgency and love. He says that whoever believes in Him believes in the Father who sent Him, and whoever sees Him sees the Father. These words show us who Jesus truly is. He is not only a teacher or prophet. He shows us what God is like. If we want to know the heart, character, and will of God, we must look at Jesus—His words, His actions, and His life. Jesus came as the Light of the world, shining into our darkness so that we do not have to remain lost, confused, or afraid. When we look to Him in faith, our path grows clearer and our hearts steadier.

Jesus also says that His words are not merely His own, but the Father’s, and that the Father’s command leads to eternal life. This means the words of Jesus are not just wise advice. They are words of life. He came the first time not to condemn the world, but to save it and to show people the way to eternal life. Yet Jesus also warns that those who reject Him and refuse His words will one day be judged by the very truth they have refused. His first coming brought mercy; His return will bring judgment. Those who receive Him and walk in His way will enter eternal life, but those who reject Him will face the consequences of that choice.

So this passage calls us to respond now. We are invited to trust Christ fully, walk in His light, and receive His words with gladness. What we do with Jesus has eternal consequences. For those who belong to Him, this is not a message of fear, but of hope. He is the Light who leads us, the Savior who keeps us, and the Lord who gives life.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for showing us the Father and for coming as the Light of the world. Help us trust Your words, walk in Your light, and choose Your way with faith and gladness. Amen.

 

The Lord of Healing and Life

Reading : Luke 8:40–56

“Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” — Luke 8:50

Jesus meets two desperate people: Jairus, whose little daughter is dying, and a woman who has suffered for twelve years. Both are helpless. Both come to Jesus in need. And both discover that He has power to give life. Jairus falls at His feet in public grief. The woman reaches for Him in quiet faith. One is known and respected; the other has lived in weakness and sorrow. Yet Jesus receives them both. He is not too busy for the desperate or too distant for the broken. His power is joined to tenderness. He stops for the suffering woman, calls her “Daughter,” and sends her away in peace. Then He goes on to Jairus’s house and speaks life where death seems to have won.

This is why the crowds were amazed. In Jesus they were not simply seeing a teacher or healer, but someone far greater. C. S. Lewis reminds us that throughout history people longed for rescue, and many ancient stories carried faint echoes of a god who dies and brings life. But in Jesus the longing became reality. Among the Jews, who believed in the one holy God, there appeared One who spoke and acted with God’s own authority. Lewis says this was the most shocking claim ever spoken: that this man was not merely sent by God, but was God among us. That is why Jesus can do what no one else can do. He does not merely comfort the grieving or advise the weak. He forgives, restores, heals, and raises the dead.

So this passage invites us to trust Him with our hidden pain and our greatest fears. The woman’s suffering, Jairus’s sorrow, and the child’s death all meet the compassion and authority of Jesus. He still speaks peace to the ashamed, hope to the fearful, and life to what seems lost. Do not be afraid. Bring your need to Him. He is still the Lord who has power to give life.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You that You are full of compassion and power. Teach us to trust You with our hidden pain and deepest fears. Speak peace where we are troubled, healing where we are broken, and life where we feel empty or hopeless. Amen.

Life Through the Cross

Reading : Matthew 16:21–28

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, 

but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Matthew 16:25

In Matthew 16:21–28, Jesus begins to tell His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and rise again. This was not an accident, but God’s saving plan. Jesus is the Messiah, yet not the kind of Messiah people expected. Many wanted power, victory, and visible glory. But Jesus came first as the suffering Savior. He went to the cross because our deepest need was not advice or example, but forgiveness, rescue, and new life. Only by giving His life could He give life to us.

Peter struggles with this. When Jesus speaks about suffering, Peter says, “Never, Lord!” His words sound loving and loyal. He does not want Jesus to suffer. But Jesus answers strongly because Peter is thinking in merely human ways, not in God’s way. What seems natural and kind can still pull us away from God’s purpose. C. S. Lewis wrote, “When natural things look most divine, the demoniac is just round the corner.” Peter wanted glory without the cross. We often want the same. We want comfort without surrender, blessing without sacrifice, and victory without obedience.

Today is Thursday, April 9, the day on which Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945. Bonhoeffer, pastor and theologian, stood boldly against Hitler and the evil of his day. Arrested and imprisoned, he continued to teach and bear witness to Christ. At Flossenbürg concentration camp, he was condemned to death and executed at the age of 39, just weeks before the war ended. His reported final words were: “This is the end — for me the beginning of life.” Bonhoeffer understood what Jesus meant. He lived and died in the light of the resurrection. The road of the cross is not the end. In Christ, surrender leads to life, and death opens into glory.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Your life so that I may live. Teach me to trust Your way, take up my cross, and follow You with courage, hope, and resurrection faith. Amen.

In the Shepherd’s Hand

Reading : John 10:22–30

I give them eternal life, 

and they shall never perish; 

no one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 10:28

Jesus speaks with quiet authority in the temple. The people around Him want a plain answer, but Jesus tells them that His words and works have already shown who He is. The real problem is not that He has been unclear, but that some do not want to believe. Then He gives one of the most tender promises in Scripture: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Jesus does not simply teach us how to live. He gives life itself—eternal life, beginning now in fellowship with Him and continuing forever. As Jesus says in John 10:10, He came that we might have life “to the full.” William Barclay beautifully said that through Christ “the weak have become strong, the selfish have become selfless, the defeated have become victorious.” That is the life-giving power of Jesus at work in ordinary people. 

This life is received by faith, and true faith leads to obedience. Jesus says His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. Mary Magdalene shows us something of that spirit as she hurries from the tomb. She has seen only the absence of a body, yet she moves in love, trust, and readiness. Bonhoeffer’s words fit well here: “Only those who believe are obedient, and only those who are obedient believe.”  We hear the Shepherd’s voice through His Word, and as Romans 10:17 tells us, “faith comes from hearing.” 

Jesus closes with deep assurance: “No one will snatch them out of my hand.” What comfort for fearful hearts. Our hope rests not in our grip on Him, but in His grip on us. Nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:38–39), and we are “shielded by God’s power” (1 Peter 1:5). He is still the Shepherd who gives life.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You that You know us, call us, and hold us. Help us hear Your voice, follow You with trust, and rest in Your strong hand. Fill us with Your life and peace today. Amen.

Newness of Life in Christ

Reading : Romans 6:1-14

Just as Christ was raised from the dead 

through the glory of the Father, 

we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:4

The resurrection of Jesus is not only a truth to believe, but a power to live by every day. Paul has already made it clear that we are put right with God by grace, not by our own goodness, effort, or religious performance. God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. But this raises an important question: if grace is free, does holiness still matter? If God forgives us, why not simply go on sinning? Paul answers with great strength: “By no means!” Grace is not permission to remain in the old life. Grace is the power that brings us into a new life.

Paul teaches that believers are joined to Christ in both His death and His resurrection. Baptism is a picture of this mystery: we are buried with Christ and raised with Him. This means that our old life, ruled by sin, no longer has the final word. Something real has changed. We are not who we once were. The gospel does more than forgive our past; it gives us strength for the present and hope for the future. Because Jesus lives, we are no longer trapped in old habits, old guilt, or old chains. We are called to walk in “newness of life,” with Christ as our Lord.

This passage also helps us understand the place of sin in the Christian life. Sin is no longer our master, but it is still harmful. It no longer brings condemnation, because Jesus has already borne our guilt on the cross. Yet it still works against the new life God is growing within us. It injures our fellowship with God and resists the work of grace in our hearts. That is why Paul says, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). We may still struggle, but we are no longer helpless. We may still be tempted, but we no longer belong to sin. So the Christian life is not about trying harder in our own strength. It is about yielding ourselves to God. Christ has power to give life — real life, holy life, resurrection life — even now.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You that through Jesus You have given us new life. Help us to turn from sin and to live as those raised with Christ. Teach us to yield ourselves to You each day, so that Your resurrection power may be seen in us. Amen.