He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
Luke 24:6-7 NIV
This passage is part of the angels’ announcement at the tomb to the women who came early Sunday morning. It is a message of good news. The one they had come to honor in His death was no longer dead. He was alive.
But this announcement also carried a note of rebuke. Don’t you remember what He told you? Weren’t you listening when He said that this would happen? And that is a note of rebuke that is so very relevant to me today.
Remember
I read God’s word daily. But that does not mean I always listen to what it is telling me. Nor does it mean that I remember it at appropriate times. Merely reading the Bible is not enough. We need to follow the example of the psalmist and hide God’s word within our hearts in order to keep us from sin (Ps. 119:11). Or that of James, who tells us that we need to stare intently into God’s word and continue in it (Jam. 1:22-25).
How much or how long you read your Bible each day is not nearly as important as what you do with what you have read. Take time to let God speak to you through His word. Meditate on it. And consider how you can incorporate what you have read into your life.
God also speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, who indwells each believer. His voice is sometimes difficult to distinguish from my own desires. But when I do recognize His voice, I need to remember what He tells me and act accordingly.
