Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
“But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
Power-Rangers
I don’t like watching Power Rangers. In fact I think the few episodes of Power Rangers I have seen (lying sick on the couch on a Saturday morning) were poorly produced stereotypical plots with shallow themes. One thing you can be sure of when watch one of these episodes is the bad guys will steal something of value and the Power Rangers will go try to get it back. The Rangers will be losing until they employ their secret power weapons together. The bad guys are vanquished but never annihilated.
The success of the Power Rangers comes not from their strength or cunning maneuvers; it is in the power of their transformed bodies. When they are transformed into mean fighting machines with special powers they are able to defeat their foes.
In many ways the Christian life is like being a Power Ranger. We are helpless in our natural state of being, but when we are connected to God through the Holy Spirit, we have access to the power of God. Unfortunately, most of us are like the Sadducees who Jesus declared did not know the power of God. They were operating under their own limited understanding of life. God’s power opens new and previously unimagined ways of living. Victory is ours, not by our strength but by God’s power. So power up and start living.
Jesus, my source of power and strength, help me to live in victory today by depending on your power for living. I desire to be powered up by the Holy Spirit in all I do, say, and think today. - Dan Jones
I
refuse blindnessSmall objects obscure huge and amazing realities. Just a hand over the eyes renders invisible the vast night sky. Closed eyelids hide towering mountain peeks. An extreme “what if” adds still another layer of invisibility to the glory of resurrection possibilities for this ancient group of Sadducees.
It is amazing to consider what petty things we allow to cloud our understanding and ultimate embrace of realities staring us in the face! Sometimes we trap ourselves in a hundred small “this but that” thoughts whirling around our minds. Other times we fixate on one small doubt. Or we stagnate in the mire of one minor or distant failure.
Marriage? Who will be my spouse? Who cares!? If God has the ability to resurrect my body decayed to a pile of dust, then he has the ability to figure everything else out. Why deny myself the amazing promise of eternal life because I cannot understand some detail of it?
Why deny myself some amazing experiences in the present life because I cannot figure some of the details? I can run open armed into the future, not because I have it all figured out, but because God does! I can embrace his promises, his calling, his forward leadership without getting stuck in the “what ifs.” We miss too many blessings because we couldn’t figure out all the details ahead of time.
Lord of the Future, I choose to trust your plans for tomorrow and beyond, whether or not I possess doubts, worries, fears, or ignorance. With your help, I will not let these things blind me to the possibilities that are in you. - Mike Leamon
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