Daily Devotions
(Jesus said) “… And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20b
I tried. I really tried.
For years I’ve resisted speaking about Britney Spears, Madonna and so many other folks in the media. I have even resisted hopping on board the Kate and William wedding bandwagon.
Until now.
Maybe you, like me, have been amazed at the feeding frenzy that has surrounded Kate’s dress. If you were to believe the TV folks doing the color commentary, there were three people at that wedding: Kate, the dress and, running a distant third, William.
From the moment the dress was revealed to the estimated 2 billion people who were watching, it has been praised, honored, criticized and vilified. At this point in time I know more about the dress than I know about some of my first cousins.
It’s been said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. If that’s true, Kate ought to feel very flattered. After all, her example is being followed by many. Right now, even as you are reading this devotion, in factories around the globe, reproductions of the dress are being made for the world’s would-be princesses.
All of this makes me wonder … will buying a special dress — even a perfect copy of the dress — bring about happiness and fulfillment?
If you readers know the answer to that question, you are ahead of many. Those who watched the wedding, those who gasped at the millions that were spent, those who were awed by all the pomp and pageantry are being led to think happiness is found in frills and externals.
Sadly, time will show the glitz and glitter — as impressive as they may be — don’t have the ability to deliver that which we need if we are to be truly content and complete.
Yes, they may give a person a heady high, but that feeling is transient. To receive that which is of lasting value we need to go to Jesus. Only the One who gave His life upon Calvary’s cross is able to give us the peace that passes all understanding.
And why is that? Only Jesus’ blood can offer us the forgiveness of sins. Only the presence of the Christ can comfort us when we are ready to die. Only the Redeemer can promise to lead us safely through the valley of the shadow.
And only Jesus can keep His promise to be with us always. You remember His promise. It’s one that says He will be with us in sickness and health, in richer and for poorer, for far longer than you and I both shall live.
THE PRAYER: Father in heaven, accept my thanks for a Savior who is keeping His promises to be with us and watch over me. May I turn to Him for the genuine peace that passes understanding, the peace which the world cannot give. This I ask in the Name of the Christ. Amen.