March 22
From Shadow into Morning
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” - 1 Corinthians 15:55
There was a great preacher once who lost his wife while he was still a young man. They had a little girl that the mother left behind. He was trying to explain death and the shadow of death to his little girl, but she didn’t quite understand.
One afternoon after the funeral, she was in the car with her father. They were downtown doing some shipping. She saw the shadow of a truck passing by. The setting sun made the shadow huge, much bigger than the truck. The little girl said, “Daddy, look at the big shadow of the truck!”
And he, being a good teacher, thought right then, “I can use this to help her understand.”
“Sweetheart, I want to ask you a question. If you had your choice, would you rather be hit by the truck or by the shadow of the truck?”
“Oh, she said, Daddy, that's easy. I'd much rather be hit by the shadow than the truck. The shadow can’t hurt you.”
“That’s right, sweetheart. And it was only the shadow that hit mama. The truck hit Jesus 2,000 years ago on the cross.”
Tremendous lesson. That’s why David calls it “the valley of the shadow of death.” The truck hit Jesus. Jesus has taken the sting out of sin, the dread out of the grave. Jesus has become our victor.
Many people fear death— a shadow looming over each of us, representing the unknown. Yet Jesus disarmed death and took away its power. The believer in Christ can have this assurance: beyond that shadow is the sunlight of the eternal morning. Speak with the Lord right now and share with Him something you fear. He already knows about it anyway. Picture yourself giving that fear over to Him. Place it in the nail-scarred Hand. It is a risen, victorious Hand!
For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.
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