Daily Devotional #1,813

I rushed home for a quick dinner and then was to go over to church to record this week’s sermon to be put on  our social media platforms. It was one of my all-time favorite things to eat…homemade grilled hamburgers.  We had all our gang over and everyone had eaten but mine was on the counter ready for me to put together and  eat. I love eating my hamburgers in a kind of old-fashioned way…onion, tomato, lettuce and just mustard. I  made sure I had them all on and took that first bite and it was wonderful. I got talking with everyone while I  was eating and got down to about the last third of my burger and just happened to look at it from the side and  realized that I had forgotten one thing. I never put on the hamburger patty! I was so focused on the peripheral  things about my hamburger that I forgot…the hamburger. As followers of this Jesus of the Bible, sometimes we  end up doing the same thing. There are lots of things in the Bible that we ought to know and things that God  wants us to do, but the Apostle Paul wrote that there was one thing that was most important. That was that  Christ died for our sins. That is the gospel…the good news. He died on the cross, was buried and was raised on  the third day. And he was seen not only by all the disciples, but by more than 500 other followers at one time.  So, as we come to this Easter season, there will be all kinds of things for us to remember, incidents that  surround that time and things that were said. But the most important thing is the gospel…the good news that  Jesus died for our sins on that good Friday. And because he beat death like a rented mule…and not only lives,  but made it possible for all those who love him to live in eternity as well. Stay focused on that this Easter. Or,  like me, you’ll have to go back for a second helping to experience it all! Here’s our Bible verse for today…  

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 NLT I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me.  Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. (4) He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the  third day, just as the Scriptures said. (5) He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. (6) After that, he was  seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.  Remember I’m praying for you!  
With love, PJ