Happy Monday and post resurrection day! He’s alive!
I started to write something healthy, but after resurrection Sunday, I just couldn’t do it. The meaning of the day just set too heavily on my heart.
Resurrection Sunday is a day of rejoicing! Jesus is alive! Just as he said, just as he promised, He was raised from the tomb. In His resurrection comes the promise of eternal life for each of us. Have you ever wondered how it would feel if we didn’t have that hope? We would just live until we died and that would be the end? Where is the hope in that? Where is the joy?
What a price was paid! It breaks my heart to think of the suffering that Jesus had to bear. It also breaks my heart to know that, even now, I sometimes take that for granted. What a sacrifice was made for us! He loved us so much that He opened up His arms and died for us.
My prayer will be that each of us contemplates on that. That we all practice that love on everyone we meet. And if we meet someone who needs to hear about the salvation of Jesus Christ, we share it joyfully!
Pray Unceasingly!!
In His light,
Lois
The Resurrection of Jesus Changed Everything
By Rick Warren
“I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish” (John 11:25-26 TLB).
The Resurrection of Jesus changed everything. It literally split history into A.D. and B.C. It’s the most important event in human history. And it proves three things.
First, it proves that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be. He repeatedly said he was the Son of God who came to die for our sins. And he did just that. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most well-documented events in history. It would stand up in any court of law. In fact, it has many, many times throughout centuries.
The apostle Paul said, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NIV).
Second, the Resurrection proves that Jesus keeps his promises. Jesus told his disciples that he would “be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21 NIV). Because Jesus kept that promise, you can trust the other promises in the Word of God. The Bible says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. . . . [He] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:20, 22 NIV).
Third, the Resurrection proves that there is life after death. Because of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, we have HOPE for the future. And it is a hope that will not disappoint (see Romans 5:5). Jesus said, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish” (John 11:25-26 TLB).
Where else are you going to get a promise like that? Nowhere! Who else can give that to you? No one! If you don’t get it from Jesus, you won’t have it. That is an amazing benefit, and it’s available to you today. What’s the qualification? You must believe.
The Bible says, “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life’” (Romans 1:17 NLT). God’s Word also says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV).
The Good News is that the death and Resurrection of Jesus gave us access to God. In other words, we can only get to Heaven by trusting in God through his Son, Jesus Christ. “God says he will accept and acquit us — declare us ‘not guilty’ — if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like” (Romans 3:22 TLB).