Happy Resurrection Sunday!
Happy Resurrection Sunday!
In the Bible it is written that the cross is foolishness to those that do not believe, but the power of God to believers (1 Corinthians 1:18). The cross, where Jesus died, represents giving oneself over totally to the purposes of God, and trusting God for the results. Part of the results of Christ’s utter obedience to God took place three days later, on that Resurrection Sunday. God in His power raised Christ from the dead! More of the results occur each time someone repents of his or her sin, trusts in Christ, and experiences life with the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.
Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
When we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, we should also affirm our own trust that God will raise us up in His time, though we currently give ourselves over to His purposes daily. The Christian faith is not only about the one-time experience of trusting Christ, but daily ongoing acknowledgment of the Christian’s dependence on God as Lord. Our life is to be cruciform, self-denying and God-affirming. This plays itself out in eliminating from our lives things that compete with God for control of our thoughts and actions. Living a cruciform life means seeking the good of others, physically and especially spiritually. I often want to respond sharply to my wife when I feel I am being treated unfairly. To live a cruciform life is to hold my tongue and not be so infatuated with asserting myself in defense.
1 Peter 2:22-23 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
On Resurrection Sunday we who rejoice in the resurrection should remember that it is a promise from the ultimate Promise Keeper for an eternity to come. While we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and are called to be a holy people (1 Peter 1:14-16), the truth is that on this side of eternity, we are in spiritual war. We are battling against the enemy and even our flesh in our pursuit to bring honor to God in our lives. But we rejoice that God is good and He can and will save us to the uttermost. So we can claim the resurrection as our future, as a promise from God, and yet we remember that on this side of eternity, our life is the cross.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
In the Bible it is written that the cross is foolishness to those that do not believe, but the power of God to believers (1 Corinthians 1:18). The cross, where Jesus died, represents giving oneself over totally to the purposes of God, and trusting God for the results. Part of the results of Christ’s utter obedience to God took place three days later, on that Resurrection Sunday. God in His power raised Christ from the dead! More of the results occur each time someone repents of his or her sin, trusts in Christ, and experiences life with the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.
Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
When we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, we should also affirm our own trust that God will raise us up in His time, though we currently give ourselves over to His purposes daily. The Christian faith is not only about the one-time experience of trusting Christ, but daily ongoing acknowledgment of the Christian’s dependence on God as Lord. Our life is to be cruciform, self-denying and God-affirming. This plays itself out in eliminating from our lives things that compete with God for control of our thoughts and actions. Living a cruciform life means seeking the good of others, physically and especially spiritually. I often want to respond sharply to my wife when I feel I am being treated unfairly. To live a cruciform life is to hold my tongue and not be so infatuated with asserting myself in defense.
1 Peter 2:22-23 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
On Resurrection Sunday we who rejoice in the resurrection should remember that it is a promise from the ultimate Promise Keeper for an eternity to come. While we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and are called to be a holy people (1 Peter 1:14-16), the truth is that on this side of eternity, we are in spiritual war. We are battling against the enemy and even our flesh in our pursuit to bring honor to God in our lives. But we rejoice that God is good and He can and will save us to the uttermost. So we can claim the resurrection as our future, as a promise from God, and yet we remember that on this side of eternity, our life is the cross.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
posted by Wayne H. Stapleton at 2:20 PM
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