The big surprise - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Judgments are prepared for scoffers, and beatings for the backs of fools.
Proverbs 19:29

The big surprise
In a regional express train in a rural area, two gentlemen are talking about the afterlife. One of them says very firmly that everything ends with death. The other is uncertain and makes cautious objections.

An old farmer sitting in the compartment with them follows the discussion with interest. His wrinkled face can tell an attentive observer many things about work and toil, but also about reflection and inner harmony.

Now the first of the gentlemen plays a very serious trump card: “Well, whoever wants to stick to the traditional view – that’s fine with me. Probably he’s too cowardly to free himself from it. He can believe in it until the end of his life for all I care. But when he is dead, and it turns out that dead is dead and no door to an afterlife opens ... well, imagine his disappointment then!” And then laughter follows, full of mockery and gloating.

At this point, the old farmer can no longer hold his tongue. “When I hear something like that …” murmurs his deep voice as if to himself. “I’d be ashamed to talk such nonsense! Or is it supposed to be a joke that one who is dead and remains dead can still be greatly disappointed? By the way, it can also happen the other way around: the one who has denied it here dies, and before him the door to God’s eternity opens. At that point he will believe and receives his solemn surprise – and to make jokes about it won’t occur to him!”

Silence suddenly falls on the compartment. No one is laughing any more.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Galatians 6:7

Today’s reading: The Song of Solomon 6:1-13 · Mark 9:14-29