May 1 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Jesus Christ is living. We know it because the apostles met him after his death. They saw him repeatedly during a period of forty days. They spoke to him, they touched him, and they ate with him. Moreover, he instructed them about the kingdom of God.

The dead are forgotten sooner or later. But the living cross our paths. You may meet the Lord today, for Jesus is alive. Contact with the living Lord is not only possible but unforgettable. Christ is living and he gives life. Fellowship with him is more profound and more enduring than any other relationship.

An old hymn loved by many Christians has this refrain: "You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart." Blessed are the people who have this knowledge. When the living Christ has given us life, we know from experience what Scripture means when it calls Christ the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

Yet we should not stake the truth of the resurrection on the experience in our hearts. All of us must admit that we have black days when it seems that Christ is dead. Our own heart is not the most reliable witness to the fact that Christ is living.

When asked how we know Christ lives, we answer that we know it primarily because Jesus showed himself alive to people who knew that he had died. In the plan of redemption, forty days were set aside to prepare witnesses to Christ's resurrection. These witnesses became the foundation of the church.

We must not say that we will believe in a living Christ after we have experienced his power. The order God has set is that first we must believe and then we will see. Once you have believed the report of the witnesses, you will also experience that Christ is living.

REFLECTION

How do you know that Christ is alive today?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.