My Thoughts on This Resurrection Morn 2009

I have a flood of emotions this morning as I think of what this day means not only to all Christians but to me personally. It happens to be the 20 years to the day that I first met Christ. In a Resurrection Sunday morning service, I heard the Gospel with spiritual ears. Like a huge breaker of waves, the message of the Cross swept over me as I listened how Christ really died for me. As I broke in my sin, I called out to Him there in that service. That morning God became real to me. A real person, a real Savior. I felt the weight of my 23 years of sin lift from life. Then, I knew what Jesus meant when He said, “You must become like a little child again.” It was really a brand new life for me.

Contrary to popular teaching, it was not some event that guaranteed me eternal life. It was the beginning of a love relationship. Like the Apostle Paul, I knew that it was the beginning til “Christ be formed in me.” It is a marathon not a sprint. Christ desires a constant, consistent, persistent walk from me. Grace, Faith, Obedience. I need grace to access faith. I need faith to receive the power to live it. I need obedience to produce the good works that Christ desires through me.

I have certainly at times disappointed myself, Christ, my family, and my friends. But, most importantly, I have never given up on Christ and praise God, He has never given up on me. I have never regretted my decision on that day. A life without Christ in me is truly empty and is vanity. For those without Christ, this is the closest they will get to heaven. But, for those of us being saved, we have a heavenly homecoming.

My prayer today is that our passion for Him increases so that we may love Him more intensely, and we persuade others of both the love of God and the terror of the Lord. Recently, I have listened to a sermon on Hell by David Wilkerson and read a book by a brother who witnessed hell for 23 minutes. If we would all be convinced that Heaven and Hell exists and that our faith in Christ daily will determine our eternal home, how differently we would all live.

I close with the Moravian call to missions which should be our purpose here on earth, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.