Easter has come and gone- again! The retailers made their profit off of it, Churches hid eggs that bunnies laid… (How in the world did we ever teach our kids that bunnies lay multicolored chicken eggs?) Our ladies bought new dresses, looked pretty in pastels, and went to Church. We sang our traditional hymns like “Up from the grave He arose”; and now, we can return to normal to await the next holiday.
Maybe I am missing something, but what does all this have to do with the miracle of a risen Savior? From my lofty view- very little. In fact, Christ’s resurrection should never be isolated from our central message of what happened that Good Friday weekend. However, that is exactly what we have done. As evidence, why is it that pastors seldom preach more than ONE resurrection sermon in a year? They save that message for resurrection day. Why? For the life of me, I don’t know why. When you think about it seriously, it is Christ’s bodily resurrection that validates His death and sacrifice for our sins.
The Apostle Paul said it well, “If Christ is not raised-then your faith is empty.” What he means is that the Cross and empty tomb are one event in God’s economy of the Gospel.
Romans 4:25 tells us this, “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Paul is saying a dead savior is no savior at all.
He will go on to say in Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies (to God), we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall be saved by his life.”
It is the “much more” in that statement that we need in our post-Easter living. For the historical resurrection to have contemporary value to me today, I need to embrace that “much more, we shall be saved by his life.” I take that to mean I can live out Easter every day. It means that He who rose from the dead back then, is still alive today. And the “much more” is that Christ is alive in those who are filled with His Spirit.
This tells me that I can know Him and the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:10). I can experience the saving life of Christ this very day. He can live in me, love through me, and live out His miraculous mission to the world in and through His people-the church. Easter has great meaning to us who are daily experiencing Christ’s resurrection life. He saved us then, He is saving us now, and His will save us when we enter death’s dark door.
My prayer this day is,
“Lord Jesus, I want you to live your life through this humble servant this day. I am yours, be risen in me, and show the world the power of living Easter every day.”
He is risen- for you!