God is God of miracles, and His favorite miracle is resurrection.
And that’s a good thing, because the main thing the unbelievers around us want to see is resurrection. They’ve heard about it. Now they want to know if Christians really believe in it.
But what kinds of resurrection happen in our lives today? There is a verse that explains one aspect very well for me: “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed–always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10).
As we go through challenging seasons which resemble death, and as we endure times that are like burial, God proceeds to show us ways to demonstrate that the resurrected Christ is living in and through us. It is not always that the sickness is healed, the job found, or the boy gets the girl. What matters is that Jesus takes a greater place in our lives and reveals His power and character in us, for others to see.
Let me tell you about a couple ways resurrection has happened to me as a result of the earlier parts of my Passion story. God has established our whole family in a deeper faith. The risen Christ has manifested Himself more and more to my wife and two daughters, and now to our son-in-law. Sometimes I am amazed that I can have a discussion about a Scriptural truth or about discovering God’s will with these members of my family whom I love so much. We can pray together, not just perfunctory prayers, but deep searching prayers about real life issues.
I also see my wife delighting in God, spending an hour or more in His Word and prayer every morning. Then she gets on email and encourages family and friends, most of whom are going through deep waters. God has given her a special expression of Christ, because she herself went through deep waters and found God faithful. She was struck down but not destroyed. She carried about in her body the dying of Jesus, and now the life of Jesus is being manifested in and through her amazingly!
God the Father loves to show off His Son. What better reason to demonstrate through us that Jesus is truly risen again!
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