When
Jesus brought his suffering on the cross to the grand crescendo of, “It is finished!”[1] he
was groaning out his victory cry over sin, death, hell, and the grave. While it
temporarily appeared that Jesus himself had been made a public spectacle
through his torturous death on a cross, his resurrection a few days later
announced something quite the opposite: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame,
by triumphing over them in him.”[2]
The
work of God that happened then is presently working as, “the power of God for salvation.”[3] That is why people around the world use this
Easter weekend to unite in commemoration of Jesus’ death, burial and
resurrection. What Jesus accomplished on the cross, and now lives to apply to
our lives through his resurrection, is powerful to work salvation into people’s
lives today.
This brings me to the question, “how
well are you experiencing the power of God saving you?” If Jesus accomplished
something through his death, burial and resurrection that is described as, “the free gift
of God” that “is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,”[4] how are we experiencing that gift?
Jesus
described eternal life as, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent.”[5] The free gift of God is a life in which those who were once sinners
under condemnation for their sin are now the adopted children who know God.[6]
This means that the commemoration of the Easter weekend is
not merely looking back over time to remember something a good man did for us a
long, long time ago. It is the reminder that Jesus came to do something
specific that would affect our lives today. He came to give us life that he described
as, “I came that they may have life and
have it abundantly.”[7]
Jesus
came to give life that means knowing God, and this experience of knowing God
was to feel like having life “abundantly,”
or “to the full”. Jesus expressed it
with this metaphor, “Whoever believes in
me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”[8] So,
Easter weekend is not just a time to pump ourselves up with celebrations of a
gift that was given a long time ago. It is a time to examine our hearts to see
if we are honoring God by living in the fullness of this gift.
My
aim in writing this is to encourage you to take a quick journey through the
Beatitudinal Valley.[9] Acknowledge
any poverty of spirit in your experience of the finished work of Jesus Christ. See
if there is anything you ought to mourn about how little you know of the God
who has made himself known through his Son. Open your heart to the meekness
that acknowledges that whatever is wrong is something that you cannot fix yourself.
And then, let your heart hunger and thirst to know God through Jesus Christ in
that way that feels like the abundance of life that Jesus offers us. God
promises to fully satisfy that hunger.
What
Jesus did on that Friday we commemorate has the power of God to affect our
lives today. It just seems that the best way to celebrate this gift of life in Jesus
Christ is to make every effort to experience it to the full. If Jesus said, “These things I have spoken
to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full,”[10] why not receive his words until we have that “fullness of joy”?[11]
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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