Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: PSALM 103:1-8; EPHESIANS 1:3-6; COLOSSIANS 3:1-2

Ever wonder why we have to go through so much hard stuff in this life? If you do, you’re in good company! All of us prefer the sweet and easy moments, free from the burdens of grief and pain. God created us for wholeness, but humanity’s sin brought brokenness. Yet God made the way for wholeness again through Jesus, who died on the cross and rose from the grave to save us from sin and heal all the brokenness sin causes. One day, Jesus will return, and this earth will be remade. In a brief moment, all will be made right. Our suffering will be but a memory.

If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we have this good future to look forward to. In the meantime, we have a choice. We can ask ourselves, How will we suffer? The things we face might make us angry or deeply sorrowful. And those emotions only make sense! And yet, in the middle of our afflictions, we can also choose to rejoice in God our Father, Christ our Savior, and the Spirit our Comforter. God invites us to be honest about how difficult or even impossible the hard things are, and to feel our emotions with Him. And at the same time, because His power is in us, we can choose to raise our sights above, “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).

Paul said it this way: he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). It’s a both/and kind of thing. We can face the reality of any sad or difficult thing in our lives, and we can also cast our eyes upward. When we do, we remember the truths that remain, no matter what: God really is good, He is still trustworthy, and His love for us never ceases. We remember that He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We are His cherished children.

Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Living by faith is a choice we can make, right now. Along with Paul, many other believers have chosen to rejoice even in their sorrows. We can too, when we remember that Jesus walks with us through every step of our life’s journey. • Kristen Merrill

• When it feels impossible to turn our gaze away from the brokenness and rejoice in God’s goodness, God wants us to ask Him for help! We can talk to Him honestly, and we can also share our struggles with trusted Christians. Who in your life can pray with you today?

• If you want to dig deeper, read Psalm 145:9; Lamentations 3:22; John 14:6; 1 John 3:1

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)

READ: EPHESIANS 2:1-10

My skin is cold. Though I can’t know for sure how cold—since corpses can’t feel anything. They can’t do anything at all, really.

If I had the ability to touch, I’d feel the icy, rough dirt that holds my stiff body in place. I’d feel the maggots wriggling their muculent bodies around the tips of my fingers, inside my ears, around my mouth, at the corners of my eyes.

If my sense of smell were working, I’d smell the aroma of rotting things decomposing beneath the earth’s surface.

If my tear ducts worked, I might wail as I thought on the fact that I am among them, my body food for the creatures that never see sunlight.

But I can do none of those things.

Because I am dead.

And when a person is dead, that is all they can do. Nothing.

This is my fate. To do nothing. To be nothing. To know nothing. To love nothing.

Until the moment that it isn’t my fate anymore.

Suddenly, the dirt is being pushed away from my body. Gentle hands are brushing the soil from my face, and I feel the warmth of them as they grasp my hands.

I feel them. As I have never been able to feel anything before!

These warm hands that send a blaze of warmth and life flowing up my arms and throughout my body now pull me upward until I’m above the ground.

I squint in the sunlight with eyes that can see!

When my eyes finally adjust to the bright light, I look into the face of the one who pulled me out. The one who has breathed life into my dead body and saved me from a fate of death and nothing.

The Man who smiles back at me wears white robes, free of blemish or spot. On His head is a crown made of the finest metals and precious stones.

This Man is the King. He cares for me. And He has made me alive. • Emily Tenter

• Today’s allegorical story is inspired by Ephesians 2:1-10. Consider taking some time to read this passage slowly. What do you notice? Why do you think dead is the word used to describe us before we know Jesus?

• Our sin leads to death (Romans 6:23). But God wants to rescue us from sin and death. What lengths would He go to to save us? He loves us so much that He gave up His own life for us. Jesus died and was buried—His body dwelt in a grave. But not for long. Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death forever, and guaranteeing that everyone who knows Him will have eternal life! When someone becomes a Christian, they pass “from death to life” (John 5:24), and they have the sure hope of Jesus’s return. On that day, He will raise us from our graves, and our bodies will be fully healed and whole! What questions do you have about death and life? Who are trusted Christians you could talk to about these things? (If you want to dig deeper, read John 11:1-44; Romans 8:10-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.)

• Have you experienced being made alive by Jesus? For more about what this means, see our "Know Jesus" page. 

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Ephesians 2:4-5 (CSB)

READ: LUKE 22:19; 24:13-36

The mall food courts in Guatemala City are very different than those I visited in the US. When I came back from four years away from my country, one of the first outings we had was to the mall. Mall runs and window-shopping are common practices among most city folk in Guatemala. We especially like doing this on Sunday afternoons. Food courts get packed—to the point that families usually have to split up to find a spot to eat. It’s crazy, and I bet many of you reading this are already cringing at the thought.

The layout of these food courts is pretty interesting. Tables are all touching each other, basically creating twenty-person tables. There is no room to separate them, so—whether you like it or not—you usually eat lunch with strangers.

And that brings us to today’s Bible passage. Shortly after Jesus’s resurrection, He appeared to two of His disciples, walking along the road to Emmaus with them. But Luke 24:16 says, “they were prevented from recognizing him.” Even though Jesus was an apparent stranger to these disciples, they still invited Him over for dinner. Jesus accepted and ate with them. And He broke the bread—just as He had done on the night before He went to the cross! When that happened, the disciples’ “eyes were opened, and they recognized him”—and then He vanished (verse 31).

Is it too bold to say that maybe by having lunch with strangers—even at such a common place as a food court—we might be dining with Jesus, welcoming Him to have lunch with us? Is it even crazier to think that when others are hosts to us we might recognize Jesus in them?

Hospitality is an opportunity to show and remember Jesus’s love and His presence with us. It’s a chance to recognize and proclaim that Jesus came to dwell with us even when we were estranged from Him (Matthew 1:23; John 1:14; Romans 5:8; Colossians 1:21-22). • Andres López

• Can you think of a time you felt welcomed by others? What was that like?

• As Christians, how can we (safely) welcome the stranger among us into our lives?

• How might God be inviting you to reach out to the outcasts in your school, church, neighborhood, etc.? Consider taking a moment to talk to Jesus about this. Additionally, who is a trusted Christian adult—such as a parent, pastor, or youth leader—you can talk to about what practicing hospitality could look like in your life? (Matthew 25:34-40; Hebrews 13:1-3)

Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. Romans 15:7 (CSB)

READ: JOHN 20:24-31; 1 PETER 1:8

I’m just gonna say it—I think Thomas the disciple, commonly known as “Doubting Thomas,” gets a bad rap. When the other disciples witnessed the risen Christ, Thomas was absent. Thomas said he wanted visible, tangible proof of Jesus’s resurrection, saying, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands…and put my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25).

It’s easy to criticize Thomas for his unbelief, but I’m not sure I would be any better. Would I take the word of the other eleven disciples? Would I really believe that Jesus had risen from the dead? Thomas loved Jesus deeply. So fervent was his love for the Savior that in John 11:16 he was willing to follow Jesus into possible death when Jesus wanted to go to Bethany.

Perhaps Thomas wanted evidence of the risen Christ, not because he was apathetic, but because he felt the intense hurt when Jesus died. Death is painful, separating loved ones and drawing us into profound grief. Even Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35). Death is unnatural, a consequence of the curse of sin. Yet Jesus has overcome the power of sin through His death— and overcome the power of death through His resurrection.

The good news is, the story doesn’t end with Thomas’s doubt. A week after Thomas’s statement of unbelief, Jesus reappeared in the upper room where the disciples had gathered behind locked doors. Jesus confronted Thomas and invited him to touch His hands and His side—to touch the very wounds Thomas had said he needed to see.

Thomas immediately believed, exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28). In fact, church tradition says Thomas spent the rest of his life as a missionary and died at the point of a spear. He devoted his life to sharing the good news of the resurrection with those who had not seen the risen Christ in person. Thomas may have doubted in the upper room, but Jesus wasn’t finished working in his life. • Mike Hurley

• Do you think “Doubting Thomas” is an accurate label?

• Even people who have been walking with Jesus for decades still wrestle with doubt from time to time. Thankfully, Jesus responds to us like He responded to Thomas—not shying away from our questions and hurts, but coming near. Jesus invites us to tell Him all our questions, frustrations, and fears—and also to share these with trusted Christians who can show us His love, pray with us and for us, and help us dig into His Word. What doubts have been weighing on you?

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31 (CSB)

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-20

In 1 Corinthians 15:17, Paul writes that if Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is worthless because we are still in our sins. Jesus’s victory over the grave is what secures forgiveness for our sins and guarantees that we will have eternal life with Him. So how can we be certain that Jesus rose from the dead? Here is some of the best evidence for the resurrection:

Jesus’s followers died for Him. After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, His followers continued to proclaim His resurrection, even in the face of immense persecution and suffering. Church tradition tells us that most of these followers were even killed for what they were proclaiming. Would you suffer and give your life for a lie? How likely do you think it is that multiple people would all suffer and die for the same lie?

Hard-to-convince people were convinced. According to biblical records, people like James (the half-brother of Jesus) and Saul of Tarsus were hard-core skeptics, and in Saul’s case, persecutors of the church. Only the resurrection explains their sudden change of heart, which led them to become leaders of the church.

If the resurrection was a lie, the disciples did a terrible job. Several details in the resurrection story would be different if the disciples were trying to invent a believable story. For example, they would not have included shameful information about themselves—like abandoning and denying Jesus at His trial. They would not have shared that women found the tomb empty first—because women in the first century were not considered credible witnesses. They would have removed the part about Jesus’s suffering as He awaited His betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane—to make Him more appealing to a culture that valued strength.

The Christian faith hinges on the resurrection. Thankfully, we have every reason to be confident in the reliability of the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection that we have recorded in Scripture today. • Jonathon Fuller

• Why is it important that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and that eye-witness accounts of His resurrection are recorded in the Bible?

• What questions do you have about the resurrection? Who are trusted Christians in your life who could help you look into these?

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 1 Corinthians 15:20 (NLT)