At the time of Jesus’ death, it appeared to His followers that all hope was lost. Everything that they had banked on was now gone. What they had believed would be the answer to all their problems was now hanging on a cross. I’m sure they gathered in disbelief as all their expectations were laid to rest in a cavernous grave.
Many times we think all our hope is lost when we experience the death of what we thought was the answer to all our problems. We put our trust in how we think things should be. We know what God’s Word promises, but we make our own plans as to how and when those promises should be fulfilled. And when that doesn’t happen the way we think it should, we begin to believe that things will never change. Our answer when that feeling comes is to cling to the message of Easter. He is Risen and He will arise in the midst of our circumstances as He promised.
The believers at the time of His death thought that Jesus was going to rule over all and that He would set up His kingdom on earth within their lifetime. When He died on the cross they could not possibly understand why everything that they had put their trust in had left them. I’m sure they questioned everything they had believed and had trusted in. I have no doubt that they felt that Jesus had failed them.
But then He arose when they least expected it. Their hope was renewed, their strength was restored and His grace was poured out upon them to finish the race He had set before them. It was not what they had anticipated and looked nothing like they had imagined. But there He was. The answer to their circumstances and the solution to their problems was standing before them. Their faith and their hope was resurrected. For some their victory was immediate when their eyes were opened to His love for them through His sacrifice on the cross for their sins. For some it may have taken time. And still for others, their victory over their circumstance, the end to their problem, the healing they sought was never seen in their lifetime. But for those still waiting, they never lost hope again because He had risen from the grave. Their eyes were opened to see the power of the Resurrection. He had not only risen from the grave, He had resurrected life in them to continue the fight until their day of victory.
Don’t ever lose sight of the fact that your answer is hanging on the cross. What looked like all hope was lost to the followers of Jesus, was in fact the moment all hope was found. It was the only solution to the problem of sin. It was the sacrifice that saved them from an eternity separated from the One they loved and trusted in. In the moment they couldn’t see it. In this moment you may not see it. But He is your answer.
My prayer today is that the message of Easter will resurrect your hope and restore your strength to continue the fight. I pray that His grace will be sufficient to see you through to victory. And I pray that your eyes will be opened to the power of the Resurrection.
Now battle on Kingdom Warriors – the victory is ours!
Have you ever gone back years later to visit a place where you played as a child? Did you notice that it wasn’t quite like you remembered it? Or worse, it was nothing like you remembered it as a child. Have you ever told your children stories of the enormous hill you went sledding on or the tree that you climbed that was bigger than any tree your child has ever seen? And then you take them to see the hill or the tree and suddenly you look like the biggest liar EVER. Well, it happened to me.
I could not understand how I had all those thoughts and feelings as a Christian. I knew better. I should have had control over my thoughts and actions. I had reached that magical point, right? I’d been doing the “Christian thing” for 16 years. Surely by now I knew how to “act” like a Christian. Surely I could control myself. And therein lies my problem. So many times, even now after all these years, I’m still trying to run my life, my thoughts, and my actions. I still find myself trying to act like a Christian instead of being a follower of Christ. I go through the motions which, on the surface, look like I know what I’m doing. But inside I’m screaming “what am I doing?! Why do I keep thinking like this or behaving like that?!”
We now knew the source of the problem but it just wasn’t convenient and not within the budget to have it fully repaired at that time. So we tried cleaning the mold off, especially after it began to spread to the walls. That would work temporarily but the problem always came back. Then we tried to paint over it. Again, that was only a temporary cover up and the mold underneath soon began to reappear. It finally got to a point that it was so bad we just ignored it and decided we’d get it completely restored to a brand-new condition “some day”. Five years later our “some day” came along but not after there was several secondary problems that resulted from our decision to put off the repair of the initial problem in it’s early stages. We learned the hard way that the longer you put off addressing a problem, the more it’s going to cost you.
But the truth is that no matter how bad your situation may look, no matter how deep into this thing you are, no matter how far you’ve gone – like our home repairs – it’s never to late to make everything just like new again. The first step is to make the decision that it’s time to do something about it and stop putting off addressing the very problem that got you into the situation you’re in. The next step is to go to the One who can can make all things new – Jesus. The bible promises in 2Corinthians 5:17 that “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” You don’t have to stay in the darkness of sin. You can turn away from that sin and turn back toward God and seek His forgiveness which He promises to give if you’ll simply ask.
The Only Option 