Shepherds Corner: True Life

He is Risen! Hallelujah!

As we approach Easter Sunday, we find ourselves in the midst of Passion Week. I hope each of us takes the opportunity in our personal devotional time to meditate on the events leading up to the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, His gruesome and humiliating execution, the punishment and separation from the Father He endured on our behalf, and His resurrection power in triumphing over death being raised to life on the third day!

In thinking on this, I find it interesting that from a worldly point of view death is considered to be the end. We are encouraged to live life to the fullest while we have it because one day we will die and it will be all over. It’s a story that is all about you. What do YOU want to accomplish? What do YOU want to experience? How do YOU want to spend YOUR time and YOUR money? How do YOU want to use YOUR talents? We even create things like bucket lists so we can monitor our progress towards completion of all the things we hope to do before we die.  Practically speaking, we live our lives based on the perception that life precedes death. The Gospel message is completely opposed to this way of thinking. The cross tells us that true life follows death. Romans 6:9 tells us that “since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” And in a similar manner, his call for us to follow him requires our own death. A death to ourselves and our former way of life (Col. 3), death to the world and its call for our allegiance. In Christ we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and are born again (John 3) into newness of life.

While we in the church have a better handle on this than the world, we tend to struggle in our understanding of eternal life. We tend to think of our physical death preceding eternal life and we can be guilty at times of failing to live. We’ve already died. Now it’s time to live… for HIM.  Jesus tells his disciples in John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” And Paul reminds us in Philippians 1:21 that “to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

The amazing thing is that the power through which Christ rose from the grave is the same power that is at work within us! (Eph 1:18-21) We have been crucified with Christ, yet we LIVE! (Gal. 2:20). So how has your living been coming along lately? Is the living water welling up within you? (John 4:14)

This morning while driving Adam to school, I heard a great song from a few years back. The lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Live out Loud” echo these sentiments well. Click here to enjoy… and start living out loud!