Devotionals
A DREAM
I awoke to find myself in a church, at a funeral. I had no idea how I had gotten here. I was completely freaked out. But I got a hold of myself and joined the line of mourners who were paying their respects to the recently deceased.
The line was long running some 200 feet from the front of the auditorium to the back. There were a lot of people apparently grief-stricken over the loss of this life. As I neared the front I noticed the total absence of flowers. The casket itself was nothing elaborate. It was a simple wood box. There weren’t any markings or decorations, just a box. Maybe this guy wasn’t that popular after all, I thought.
I asked myself a ton of questions: Who was the person who died? What happened that caused him to die? Why was the whole funeral so lackluster? Why was I here? How did I get here?
The closer I got to the casket the more familiar the deceased looked. He had a familiar body-type. The features of his face resembled someone. I couldn’t put my finger on who it was exactly though.
Finally it was my turn to solve the great mystery. I peered down into the noticeably plain box. My eyes were met with unbelief that soon turned to horror as I realized that the person in the plain box was not an acquaintance or a friend or even a family member, but the person in the plain wood coffin was…myself.
There I was dead. I lay lifelessly. My face was pail my lungs didn’t raise or lower, my heart didn’t beat. Apparently my life had ended. I was dead.
I ran up to everyone at the funeral. I was trying to get some answers, but it was like they didn't even see me. I yelled and I screamed and I begged and I pleaded for someone to answer me, for someone to tell me what was happening. How did I die? How could I be at my own funeral?
Utterly terrified I sat down as the service began. I didn't know what to think. The preacher stepped to the pulpit and began reading from a large black book. I assumed that it was the Bible. However, as I listened what I heard was not comforting verses or uplifting words, but the slow recount of every sin I had ever committed.
"January 10th, 1987 - Disobeyed parents"
"November 2nd, 1988 - Swore at his parents"
"July 19th, 1989 - Told his brother Jeff he hated him as a birthday present"
"May 30th, 1995 - Told his girlfriend he loved her so she would do whatever he asked"
"June 12th, 1995 - Told his now ex-girlfriend that he was wrong so he could break up with her and get another girl to do whatever he asked"
“March 22nd, 1996 - Lied to his friend in order to get his way.”
“October 1st, 1997 – Snuck out of the house in order to go to the big party that his parents said he couldn’t go to”
I was scared out of my mind. Everyone was hearing about what an awful person I was. I begged and pleaded for it to stop but there was no hope. No one could hear me, it was like I was in a glass room: I could see and hear everything, but no one could see me.
If this weren’t enough something even worse happened. Instead of eulogies from family and friends, people began to recount times when I had cheated them (or cheated on them), lied to them, or hurt them in some way or another.
Then it happened!
In the back of the church a man stood up, and began to march down the aisle. He had a beard and wasn’t very tall. He walked powerfully with purpose; you could see his muscles bulging with each step. As he approached the front people were caught off guard and taken back.
This man had everyone’s attention.
He arrived at the pulpit and demanded the book that the preacher had been reading from. It seemed as if the preacher was going to say, “no”, but his own arm betrayed him and he held the book straight out in front of him. This short, stocky, bearded man who more closely resembled the dwarf from the Lord of the Rings then anybody I’d ever seen reached his hand out to grasp the book. As he stretched it out I noticed something, his hand was bright red with blood.
Then the most amazing thing happened. As his blood-stained hand grabbed the book that held every sin that I had ever committed the book disintegrated! It crumbled to nothing. The book that held the only record of everything and anything I had ever done wrong had been destroyed. If this feet were not awesome enough this mysterious man then came to the coffin where I was laying, took a deep breath, leaned down over me, and breathed life into my lungs.
I sat up, being brought to life from the dead, and said, “my Lord and my God!”
A SIMPLE QUESTION
Are you a zombie?
HUH?
By this time you are probably thinking one of two things. Either you’re saying, “Nice dream” and running through the back of your mind is the word “F-R-E-A-K!” (You go and warn your friends about the youth pastor who has dreams and asks weird questions.) You start thinking did I buy a devotional or a book on interpreting dreams, maybe that’s more interesting to you…just give me a chance here.
Or maybe, just maybe you are beginning to get the idea behind the dream but you need a little more explanation.
For both groups let me explain, but first…
THE BIG IDEA!
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins… (Ephesians 2:1a)
Zombie – a dead body that has been brought back to life by a supernatural force
But God being rich in mercy…even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5)
THE EXPLANATION
So here’s the question again: Are you a zombie?
Do you get it now? Being a zombie is basically the same thing as saying that you are saved or that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s the same thing, but it’s a different way to think about it. In fact it’s a revolutionary way to think about it.
Growing up in church I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the illustration having to do with witnessing that goes something like this: imagine a man drowning in the ocean and you’ve got the life preserver, wouldn’t you throw it to him? Everybody always answers, “yes”.
That’s a great illustration about the urgency needed in our sharing the awesome gospel of Jesus Christ. BUT, I don’t think that illustration is very accurate. The Bible clearly says that we are not drowning in an ocean and need to be saved, but that we have already drowned. Let me make that clear: WE ARE DEAD! People without Christ aren’t dying! PEOPLE WITHOUT CHRIST ARE DEAD!
OK, WELL THEN WHAT’S THIS ZOMBIE THING?
A zombie is a freaky creature that is basically a dead man. Then something supernatural happens and the dead man comes back to life from this point forward that dead man is alive and is properly referred to as a zombie.
Do you see it now? Do you get it? The Bible says that without Christ you are dead. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The Bible also says that God loves you and because He loves you He can and will raise you from the dead if you believe in the sacrifice that His son gave for you. If you do that then YOU ARE A ZOMBIE! The good kind, not the freaky kind who stick their hands out of graves and are in all of those weird Halloween movies, but the kind that lives for the one who brought them to life; the one who grabbed the list of their sins and disintegrated it; the one who bent down and breathed life into their dead bodies; THE ONE!
WHAT’S A MEDITATION?
A meditation is not sitting Indian-style on some hill and humming. A meditation is some serious thought about something. This probably means that you have to be alone. That you have to turn off your CD player, turn off your TV, and turn on your mind. This is scary! I know that the silence can be deafening, but don’t worry, it’s ok! You’ll survive, I promise.
THE SQUARE PEG FOR THE SQUARE HOLE
I think when everyone was a child they had a plastic ball. On this ball there were various holes with differing shapes. The ball came with several pieces that matched the shapes on the ball. All of the pieces would fit inside the ball if you put them in through the right hole, but if you tried to put them in the wrong spots guess what happened…It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out that you can’t get those pieces in the ball. The right shape had to go in the right hole. The hole that was formed for that shape has to be filled by that shape. The square peg must go into the square hole.
I believe that what the ancient pastor Augustine said is true, that each person has a God-shaped hole. That hole can only be filled by God through His word. This devotional is based on Scripture, AKA God’s Word, AKA THE BIBLE! God’s words are the only way that we can know the square peg (God) that can fill our square holes.
MY PRAYER
And do not go on presenting the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness: but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
(Romans 6:13)
I die daily.
(1 Corinthians 15:31b)
My prayer is that we take the words of Romans 6:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:31 to heart. It is time that we stop living like dead people and start living like zombies. WE have sacrificed the parts of our bodies as tools to do evil, sinful things for too long. We MUST sacrifice the parts of our zombified bodies as tools of good, as tools of righteousness! We have to do it EVERYDAY!
Luke 14 – Zombies are Ready to Die
What would you say to a 12 year-old skater-guy that carried around an electric chair? Would you think that a 14 year-old chick was strange who kept a needle with a lethal serum with her at all times? Would an 18 year-old man who kept a firing squad marching behind him at all times with their guns trained on his back would be considered a little weird?
Check This Out: Luke 14:25-33
Concentrate:
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27).
Think About It:
How do you come to Jesus?
Has something ever been so important to you that even other cool things aren’t so cool? Is Jesus really saying to hate your family? What do you think He means?
What did Jesus have to carry? What was Jesus killed on? What is a cross? How was it used?
What do you think it means to take up your cross?
What happens if you brag and say that you are great at something and then it turns out you aren’t as good as you think? What do people say about you?
Does God want you walking around naked? Does he want you necessarily to starve? What does it mean then to give up all of your possessions?
A zombie was brought back to life by something supernatural. Are you a zombie? Do you own your life? Do you possess it? If not, who does?
Last Thought:
The most incredible thing is that a zombie is a dead body that has been given a new life. A zombie ready to die is already dead and the life that they give up is not their own. The life that they give up is the life of the one who calls them to take up their form of execution.
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