April 6 Daily Devotional

Monthly Theme:

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the beginning of a new life for all believers. It's also the pledge of our resurrection (1 Cor. 15). The study of Colossians is part of this month's meditations on the meaning of the resurrection.

Bible Reading:

1 Corinthians 15:42–49

Bible Text:

"The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

Devotional:

This is how the first Adam was created: "The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). AIl the children of Adam and Eve live by the breath God blew into us. Someday we'll breathe our last and return to dust.

It's proper for us humans to remember that we are only human. We live by a trembling breath, and we make fools of ourselves when we talk bigger than we are. AIl Babel-builders, HitIers, millionaires, and beggars will be reduced to corpses when they breathe their last. From dust they came, and to dust they will return.

But Jesus is the second Adam. He is the only one who has left the grave to live forever. He not only has the immortal life of God but he is the life-giving Spirit. When he blows on us, we share the imperishable life that comes from God.

Breathe on us, Breath of God!

Christians still live in the form of the first Adam. But the Spirit of Christ is preparing us for a whole new form of existence. That's why our lives are fiIled with so much tension—already we are being renewed, but we are not yet free from the old. In the end, Christ's Spirit will overcome.

Today we receive a new heart. Tomorrow we'I1 get a new body.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

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 edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.