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| From the darkness of the earth a flower blooms! |
What a tremendous comfort to know that we will rise as Christ did, all because He conquered death on the cross! Without the physical resurrection of Jesus, we would have no hope. That's what our baptism represents is the dying to sin and rising up to new life! The promise of the Christ, his birth, life and death are all part of the story of our salvation and redemption but it was in His rising from the grave on the third day that fulfilled His promise that we could live with God for eternity! He bore our sins on the cross but through His resurrection He overpowered death and bought for us, through His spilt blood, the eternal gift of being loved forever!
Can we rise without Him? Can we conquer our sin apart from Him? We rise only because of Him! Our sin has stained us, weighed us down and separated us from our Father's love. Who then can wash us and remove the heavy burden of our sinful nature? Only Jesus can (Ezekiel 16:1-14), because He took all that buried us and brought us up to the light of salvation! His resurrection took us from the grave to eternal life! Apart from that lavish gift, we must learn to see that same scenario played out in our everyday circumstances! How many times have we been saved, delivered, unearthed, brought above a situation in our life that warrants glory to God? It's not just the deliverance that we can see but also all the things that God protects us from that we aren't even aware of! His grace (giving us what we don't deserve) covers us and His mercies (not giving us what we deserve) endure forever!
Every time we change our thought patterns to see God's loving hand working in our life rather than blaming Him, is a time that we acknowledge His resurrection! Every time that we see Him as our deliverer from a situation that threatens to destroy us, we acknowledge His resurrection! Every time we humble ourselves to others and love them, we acknowledge His resurrection! Rising above our selfishness and seeing His love instead, is the reflection of His resurrection! Every time we change our behavior to be more Christ-like, it's a reflection of His resurrection! His power and love that rises higher than our circumstances is a depiction of His rising from the grave of powerlessness to the life of power! When you rise for the day, when you rise to defend someone, when you rise to reach out and serve, when you rise to include someone.....you are acknowledging that God has a purpose for you through His resurrection and that glorifies Him just as that Sunday morning when He emerged from the tomb!
All of life is a mirror of His rising! The tree falls in the forest and it's decomposition (death), makes for fertile soil so the saplings can rise, the sun crests the eastern horizon each and every day bringing us hope, the seed dies before it can give life, and as the child emerges into life from the dark womb...it's all a mirror of His rising! I thank my Heavenly Father for showing Himself in all of nature and life so I can see His Son's sacrificial offering of Himself rise into omnipotence! His resurrection is in everything if you just open not only your physical eyes but ask Him to open your spiritual eyes also! May we all begin to see the resurrection in every aspect of our lives, from the regeneration of cells to the burning energy of the sun, His image rises from all of it!
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