Easter Weekend Devotional | Gift for You
Thursday-Sunday Devotional from Gospel of John to Guide Your Weekend
Note: For paid Substack subscribers who receive my daily devotions, I am taking this weekend off from daily emails to be intentional about spending time with my family and being present as we launch a church campus. Please download this devotional (from the Gospel of John, rather than Matthew) to guide you through this weekend. We will pick up daily email devotions on Monday.
Easter weekend for our ministry family feels more like rounds and rounds of events than a holy-day sometimes.
I need to make intentional time to slow down and soak in the season, even amid celebrating my son’s 16th birthday today, hosting family, preparing the meals, organizing the easter egg hunt, and serving alongside my husband to launch a church campus this weekend.
Breathe.
Maybe you also need to be intentional this year about connecting with God.
This FREE Easter weekend devotional is for you and it starts today.
Maundy Thursday: Read John 13
It stings to admit when we’re wrong.
When conviction churns our soul, maybe we rather flip open social media than read the inner scroll of our conscience—as if admitting our wrongs somehow mark us “unfit.” Unfit friends, unfit co-workers, or maybe unfit followers of Jesus.
Maybe this is how the apostle Peter felt when Jesus corrected him. I wonder if social media were a thing, if Peter would just want to swipe open his phone and scroll his guilt numb.
This is what happened: during the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples, he laid aside His social position as a teacher and humbled Himself by washing refuse off the disciples’ feet.
Peter said, “You won’t ever wash my feet!”
Maybe Peter thought he was honoring his Lord by refusing such service, but Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8)
In other words, anyone who wants to follow Jesus needs God to wash away the refuse of our soiled thoughts and actions—our sin.
None of us follow Him perfectly. None of us.
Those who have placed their faith in the words and works of Jesus have all been bathed—washed from the eternal gunk of our sin—but we still need daily cleansing.
Daily confession. Daily submitting ourselves to Jesus and letting him spiritually “wash our feet.”
The beautiful thing is, God’s ready. He is girded with a towel and basin. He set aside His rank as Lord of Lords to wash us from the filth of our sin.
When Jesus took the bread and the wine for His last meal with his disciples, He once again showed them (and us) that laying down His life was his choice. It was not taken from him, he laid it down.
He was prepared to suffer and die; He was choosing Good Friday.
YOUR TURN
Spend a few moments in silence, thanking Jesus for His body and His blood offered for you. Then ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind any sin.
When something comes to mind, ask God to wash you with His blood and give you forgiveness. Take this time to recommit your desire to follow Him.
You can use this prayer:
Lord, I worship You. Thank You that even in my sin, you want to draw me in toward You. Help me, Father, to trust Your love more than my shame. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Take a moment for yourself to drink in scripture, reflect, and pray. Your go-to to connect with God in the busy of your day. Listen here.