Day 36 – Withholding – Expressions from Summerside Community Church

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading

Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Devotional – Dying to Live

Like a seed turned inside out, true-life inevitably comes out of some sort of death.

If there was ever a time to disassociate with Jesus it was after he was condemned as both a political traitor and a blasphemer and hung to die on a cross. And yet that was the moment that Joseph of Arimathea, a high-standing leader in the synagogue and in the community, chose to publicly honour Jesus.

He risked everything.

There’s a reason vulnerability feels like dying. It is a moment when we put it all on the line and trust it won’t betray us. The truth is that no matter what we offer – our reputation, time, money, or heart – if we are giving it to God he always brings new life from it. No sacrifice, no matter how risky or small, is ever wasted on God.

Question to Consider

Are there areas that you have been holding back from God? Has God been asking something of you that you have been reluctant to submit to his care?

Prayer

God, I know that you are always faithful. Please give me the peace and strength to relinquish _____________ over to you. Thank you that I can trust you. Please plant a seed of hope in me that you will bring something wonderful from my obedience. “I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness” (John 10:10).

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

The 40 days of decrease blogs have been inspired by the book “40 Days of Decrease” by Alicia Britt Chole.