HOW TO LIVE THE RESURRECTION EVERY DAY
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24:5)
HE. HAS. RISEN.
The Resurrection is the primary biblical truth used when arguing the case for Christ and Christianity. I imagine on Easter Sunday 2019 years ago, many saw and believed for the first time. The same people who were there on Good Friday, the ones who crucified Christ, were probably pretty dumbfounded (and if we’re being honest—scared out of their minds) on Easter Sunday. Because how can you argue and refute a Man you watched die after you see Him rise from the grave?!
I think the best part about it all was that Jesus told everyone what was going to happen, but nobody believed Him (Luke 9:22). Or maybe if they did believe Him, they just didn’t understand with their small human brains.
2019 years later, we’re still here with small brains. How often do we forget the reason for the Resurrection? God became flesh, lived life among us (with all its joys, sorrows, and mundane moments), suffered, died, and rose for one reason: To show us we can, too.
HOPE
If you study salvation history, you’ll learn that in dying, Christ paid the debt for all of our sins, so we could have the hope of heaven—of eternal happiness with Him. He did it out of sheer love for us.
But the debt was paid with death, so why not stop there? Why rise?
Christ opened heaven on Calvary, but three days later he gave us something else when he did the unthinkable: He walked out of that tomb. And in doing so, Christ gave us the one thing He knew we would need to persevere in this life and join Him in eternity: HOPE.
IS THIS IT???
A life without hope is a miserable existence. A life without hope is despair. Suffering has no meaning, and joy always has an end.
When I encounter people without deep faith, I feel great sorrow for them. I try to put myself in their shoes, but I can’t. I can’t imagine a life without faith, without hope. Living for the pleasures and thrills of each day just isn’t enough. To think that this life is all we have and once we’re dead, we’re dead? Nope sorry, but I want more.
As Christians, we get just that—more. Sure the practicalities of our lives are the same as anyone else: we experience joys, sorrows, suffering, pain, mundane moments, etc. But the difference is it’s not meaningless. The more we encounter Christ, the more we are reminded of the hope of eternity. Suffering is not pointless because Jesus made it beautiful. Joy does not have to end here—It only intensifies in Heaven. And death… even death has hope, and Jesus proved it when He rose.
Jesus Christ didn’t suffer, die, and rise so we could live a meaningless and painful existence. He rose so we too can rise WITH Him. He tells us we will experience our Gethsemane, our Golgotha, and our Calvary. We will also experience our Palm Sundays, our Wedding Feasts at Cana, and Our Last Suppers. But for all that living gives us, dying gives us so much more… because it gives us the chance to RISE to eternal life. And when we know the sweetness that is to come, suffering, pain and death don’t hurt so much.
THE CALL TO RISE
One of my favorite Catholic speakers, Leah Darrow, gave a talk earlier this year on the resurrection that really struck a chord with me.
Leah was a former America’s Next Top Model contestant who grew up Catholic, but slowly fell away from the faith. She moved to New York to be a model, but got to this point of complete despair where she wanted to give up. She didn’t have hope. She didn’t feel like she had anything to live for.
Thankfully, during this time of despair, Leah heard St. John Paul II’s words in her heart, “Be Not Afraid.”
She realized she was living out of fear. That she was succumbing to the plans of the devil to make her fail, to make her fall. But Christ was not calling her to stay in her tomb of despair, but to overcome fear and persevere in the faith. He was calling her to rise with Him—just as He calls each of us.
“Jesus Christ died for you. But never forget that Jesus Christ rose for you. He wants you to walk out of that tomb into the glorious light of the Resurrection because He is in the business of restoration, of transformation, of resurrection. And He wants to do that for you.”
Leah Darrow Seek 2019
When Jesus rose, He put an end to death and defeated the devil.
As Matt Maher sings,
“Oh death, where is your sting? Oh, hell, where is your victory?”
The only way satan wins is if we quit. If we give up and succumb to despair. If we lose hope of the resurrection and start living for this world.
So friends, today, on this glorious Easter Monday, I’m challenging you to rise. Every day. For the rest of your life.
Get out of that tomb—the tomb of fear, despair, loneliness, depression—and live the life Jesus wants for you. Send the devil back to hell just like Jesus, the omnipotent God, did on Easter Sunday. Oh what a glorious day!
From the depths of my soul,
