R&V In the Word: Resurrection Life, Right Now

Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”

“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?” John 11:24-26 MSG

I’ve been a follower of Christ since college, but there have been seasons that have felt like the only hope was to just wait for the End of the story. I didn’t feel like I was living the resurrection life, then. Instead, life felt like one long winter, the hope for an eternal spring just on the other side of the End.

I want to live in the wonder of Now. I want to experience every day the way I forget what the growing world looks like every spring, when the trees start to bud, when the grass changes from that tired brownish olive color to something lush and suddenly alive, and I am alive again with it. Have you seen the trees?! Have you seen the daffodils in the woods?! Have you seen the forsythia, the andromeda, the azalea?

Jesus invites us into a new life, now, a resurrected, rescued life, a life pulled up out of the muck and mire of negativity, bitterness, and despair into a life defined by faith, hope, and love. Today is the day to shed the long winter. Today is the day to see the world through the eyes of Christ, to love the world through the eyes of Christ, to walk through the world with the eyes of Christ. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.

Do you believe this, really?

Points of Reflection

1. If your relationship with Jesus could be defined by the seasons of the year, which season do you feel like you’re in right now?
2. What has to change for you to find your way back into living a resurrected life?

For the Kids

1. What does it mean to be rescued? Can you think of examples of people being rescued?
2. If you are in danger and get rescued, how do you think you’d feel afterward?
3. How does Jesus describe himself? What do you think Jesus means that believing in him will give us life, even if we die?

Action

If the season you’re in feels like autumn, like the good things are dying and soon the world will be dark, or if it feels like winter, like nothing is alive and everything is still and cold and coated in bitterness, it can be hard to summon spring and summer. I don’t believe it is in our power to positivity ourselves out of sadness, grief, anger, depression, loneliness, or bitterness. But we can position ourselves to receive God’s Love and Holy Spirit. Carve out time in your day to hear from the Lord, however you best meet Jesus (gardening, walking, reading the Bible, meditating, writing, playing music, singing, whatever it is that feeds your soul), and pour out your sorrows and hurts. Find ten things to thank God for each day. Ask God to show you the good, the real, the true, and the beautiful.

Readings

For a quick and encouraging look at what it means to live into the resurrection life Jesus gives us, try The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. It’s delightful.
Listen or read online through your local library’s Libby app, or buy on Amazon.com or through a local independent bookstore near you.