Worship: Not Based on Feelings

I had believed in the supernatural in an abstract way. Things like that had happened in the deep and distant past or would happen in the equally deep and distant future. I hadn’t seen any miracles or obvious ruptures in the laws of physics in my own world, the place and time I inhabited.

As I ran past the cemetery, I thought that through my haze of sweat and discomfort I might have heard the rumble of distant thunder. Odd, on a sunny day. But not unheard of. It could have been machinery.

Someone stood in the cemetery, a young man. I nodded to him and kept running.

Movies with computer graphics have put an idea into our head about what miracles should look like. Fake, shiny, and artistically removed from anything but a screen. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to believe in them anymore.

There were more people in the cemetery than I realized. Tons of them, all young-looking. Was there a funeral? I wondered. They had begun to mill around, smiling and chatting. I began to realize as they laughed and cheered that they weren’t visitors. They were residents.

Someone walked among them. A man with nail prints on his hands and feet.

The sun still beat down in the 11:00 a.m. position for the time of the month. The air was still 76% humidity. A few puffy clouds sailed overhead in the hazy sky.

It was a miracle that the dead had come to life. And it was real. • Kevin Zeller

• Today’s devotion is a poetic picture of a real and promised miracle: the resurrection of God’s people, secured because of Jesus’ resurrection. When you think about miracles, what comes to mind?

• What are some differences between biblical miracles and the flashy ones from movies?

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 (CSB)

Read Verses:

2 Samuel 12:19-20; Psalm 51:4; 142:1-5