The Resurrected Life

How grateful I am for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Jesus promised us that He would be with us always, even to the consummation of the world. The Resurrection makes that possible --- and believeable!  He "tabernacled" with us, dwelt with us face to face, so that we could see Him, touch Him, love Him, and speak with Him as a man speaks with a friend.  And He said He would never leave us orphans.

The human stories of the Old Testament were a testimony in themselves:  God is present -- and acting -- in human history.  He is Emmanuel -- God with us!  But still, it was hard for us to believe and to trust.  Maybe, after all, these were "just stories," as some of my friends attest.  Maybe God was "with" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but maybe not "with " us in the same way.  

But as John says, now we have seen Him, have beheld the glory of the only-begotten Son, Who has revealed to us the love of the Father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and even more, not in a parable at all, but in the reality of the crucifixion.  The Son of God crucified for love of us!  We have seen it for ourselves.  In fact, we have even taken part in it by our sins.  

But the story has another ending in the Resurrection.  Now He is truly with us always.  He is with me today, in my very human life, in my comings and my goings, in my staying at home and working in my garden.  In the cooking and the precious little cleaning I do.  He is praying in me to the Father, and breathing in me His very personal Spirit, making me see the world and the people around me through His eyes.

His death was in fact my death -- the death of "the empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers, the death of the Adam nature in my soul, the nature which caused me to see others as "other," as different, the nature which always wanted to hide from the good God Who loves me, the nature who constantly chooses the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Now He lives in me, daily putting to death all that is not the image and likeness of God in me, and daily raising in me the new creation, created to be like God.  When I run from the Presence of God, He gently goes in search of me, bringing me face to face with Father Who loves me.

Psalm 103 says, "Praise the Lord, o my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.....and forget not all His benefits:

He forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases;

he redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion.

He satisfies your desires with good things,

so that your youth is renewed like the eagles's.

The Lord works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

Here the writer is speaking to his very soul --- that is, to his own heart, mind, and will -- and reminding himself of all that God is doing for him on a daily, even on a moment by moment, basis.  This, to me, is the Resurrected Life of Jesus in us.  Every single day, every single moment, He lives within me, "working righteousness" and healing, teaching, consoling, encouraging, satisfying my desires, renewing my youth like the eagle's.  The ministry He carried out on earth 2020 years ago, He continues daily in my soul -- as if I were the only person He needed to tend to.  And in the process, He transforms me by the power of His resurrection from an earthly to a heavenly creature!

What return can we make to Him for all He is doing for us?  We can allow Him to continue to do in us all that He wishes to do!