he.lives
Easter - Love prevails, death is beaten, Jesus is risen!
Easter is the defining holiday of the Jesus follower, commemorating the fact that Jesus, who gave his life in your place and my place, came back to life three days later, forever conquering death, enabling us to live eternally with our creator.
If we believe in our hearts, and confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Son of God, we can enjoy living out eternity in a tangible relationship with God. There are no prerequisites, no secret passwords, no standard of behavior. Simply believe it, and confess it. His love will then begin a process in you, as you become the person that you are meant to be. You are made to thrive.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Speaking of the process of becoming who we are meant to be: Tonight at church we heard about how growing in God is a process, how learning how to trust the Lord and to begin to release your faith in and for a situation is a process and how we can’t get away from that. We want instantaneous everything, and in my experience that’s not often been how God has dealt with me. So why am I still always expecting to get instantaneous results when I pray? I know that God can and sometimes does answer immediately. Other times, not so quickly. But we were reminded that it’s “through faith *and patience* that we inherit the promises.” So it kind of set me straight again, to recognize that He is God and I am not and that my situation will reflect His will if I will just submit. And also that if I will just immerse myself in the Word, “attending to the word and inclining my ear to it,” eventually I will become like the word, the living Word, the Lord — in my thoughts, in what is coming out of my mouth, in what I am willing to do to serve Him and in what I am willing to avoid out of obedience to him. I want to talk like Jesus and do the “greater works you’ll do because I go to my Father” and have the kind of love and compassion that He had on Earth and still has for those who are “like sheep without a shepherd.” The only way I can get to that point is through a process of being changed, and instead of looking at myself and saying “Man, look how far I have to go,” I need to be saying, “Whoa, look how different I am today than I was last year!” because the word is “living and active” in my life.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 am
Ellen - excellent comments and perspectives - the miracle He continues to work in me amazes me when I look back at who I used to be.