Practicing resurrection
I didn't think I needed Jesus today. On Easter of all days. I woke up with the bright sun shining, life bursting with possibilities and new joys. Of course, I didn't say those words out loud, but I acted that way because something unthinkable happened on Easter. I actually sinned. I said and thought selfish thing before we actually even arrived at church.
Somehow I was frustrated by that. I thought, I am a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. Today is a different day. It's Easter. I am supposed to be holier today- more selfless from this day forward. Only there sin came breaking in again. My earthly nature creeping through those cracks in this little jar of clay.
This morning as I sat in church and sang songs of praise with my brothers and sister, I contemplated the rugged cross that hung before us and before the communion bread and juice.
Believing in Jesus isn't the end. It's really the beginning. Easter is not the end- it's the beginning. But the beginning of what? It is not the beginning of perfection, but rather sanctification. Sanctification- becoming more like Jesus each day. Each day. It's not over night. It's not even in a week.
Jesus himself compares believing in Him to being born again- being a little baby. We don't stay little babies. We grow. We breathe. We stumble. We fall. And we reach up to grab our Father's hand and stand back up again.
There's a little painted canvas that hangs in the prayer room at our church that says in all caps: PRACTICE RESURRECTION.
We have to practice getting out of our own tomb. Our pastor read from a part of the resurrection story that is often not preached about on your typical Easter morning and said, "We had to get out of our own tombs."
Mark 27:50-53: "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
When Jesus died, people came out of their tomb- physically and spiritually. When Jesus died, he made living possible. Real living. He made it possible to move the stone away from our dark, damp tomb of pride, envy, selfishness, and sin and to walk into his glorious light and freedom.
Daily though, I have to practice resurrection- practice getting out of the tomb.
Paul says in Phillipians 3:10-11"I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
This captures the season of Lent and Easter. We choose to remember Christ's death and participate in his sufferings by denying ourselves something simple and small and then by celebrating and practicing resurrection through Easter.
Then he continues: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
We are not there yet. There is a tension on this earth- a both/ and. Jesus's kingdom is here and yet it is not fully here. It is mysterious and intricate and beautiful and inexplainable.
And somehow this truth gives me peace this Easter Day. I leave what is behind and press on to what is ahead. I fix my eyes on not circumstance and failure, but on the righteousness and beauty that is mine in Christ Jesus.
And something else gives me peace today. This purple iris that bloomed. It is our first iris to bloom in our yard this spring and it is my Easter iris. God speaks to me so often through flowers and I just knew as I saw those buds on those tall, lanky stems that He'd open one on Easter day for me. And there it was this morning when I looked out the window.
Even the flowers are practicing resurrection. The petals are getting our of their tombs- out of their buds- leaving winter behind and stepping into the warm sunshine.
It's purple too. The color of royalty. The color that hangs over crosses across our world during the Lent season and it hangs across my yard and heart today. We are easter people. We are people of the resurrection. We are chosen, loved, and worthy because of King Jesus.
He is not here, he is RISEN!
Somehow I was frustrated by that. I thought, I am a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. Today is a different day. It's Easter. I am supposed to be holier today- more selfless from this day forward. Only there sin came breaking in again. My earthly nature creeping through those cracks in this little jar of clay.
This morning as I sat in church and sang songs of praise with my brothers and sister, I contemplated the rugged cross that hung before us and before the communion bread and juice.
Believing in Jesus isn't the end. It's really the beginning. Easter is not the end- it's the beginning. But the beginning of what? It is not the beginning of perfection, but rather sanctification. Sanctification- becoming more like Jesus each day. Each day. It's not over night. It's not even in a week.
Jesus himself compares believing in Him to being born again- being a little baby. We don't stay little babies. We grow. We breathe. We stumble. We fall. And we reach up to grab our Father's hand and stand back up again.
There's a little painted canvas that hangs in the prayer room at our church that says in all caps: PRACTICE RESURRECTION.
We have to practice getting out of our own tomb. Our pastor read from a part of the resurrection story that is often not preached about on your typical Easter morning and said, "We had to get out of our own tombs."
Mark 27:50-53: "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people."
When Jesus died, people came out of their tomb- physically and spiritually. When Jesus died, he made living possible. Real living. He made it possible to move the stone away from our dark, damp tomb of pride, envy, selfishness, and sin and to walk into his glorious light and freedom.
Daily though, I have to practice resurrection- practice getting out of the tomb.
Paul says in Phillipians 3:10-11"I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
This captures the season of Lent and Easter. We choose to remember Christ's death and participate in his sufferings by denying ourselves something simple and small and then by celebrating and practicing resurrection through Easter.
Then he continues: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
We are not there yet. There is a tension on this earth- a both/ and. Jesus's kingdom is here and yet it is not fully here. It is mysterious and intricate and beautiful and inexplainable.
And somehow this truth gives me peace this Easter Day. I leave what is behind and press on to what is ahead. I fix my eyes on not circumstance and failure, but on the righteousness and beauty that is mine in Christ Jesus.
And something else gives me peace today. This purple iris that bloomed. It is our first iris to bloom in our yard this spring and it is my Easter iris. God speaks to me so often through flowers and I just knew as I saw those buds on those tall, lanky stems that He'd open one on Easter day for me. And there it was this morning when I looked out the window.
Even the flowers are practicing resurrection. The petals are getting our of their tombs- out of their buds- leaving winter behind and stepping into the warm sunshine.
It's purple too. The color of royalty. The color that hangs over crosses across our world during the Lent season and it hangs across my yard and heart today. We are easter people. We are people of the resurrection. We are chosen, loved, and worthy because of King Jesus.
He is not here, he is RISEN!
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