It's been a memorable journey through Lent this year.  

Over the past 6 weeks, we've contemplated numerous ways that we can die with Christ so we can more fully live His life.  And now it's Easter.

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This means it's time to live.  But not on our own.  We mustn't simply slink back into the hum drum of how it's always been.  What a waste that would be!  Now is the time to live...with Him.  

2 Timothy 2:11-13 tells us:

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful--for He cannot deny Himself." 

IF we have died...we will also live.  You can't have the Christ-life without the Christ-death.  Have you experienced death to self?  It's more than saying a quick prayer and hoping for the best.  

Jesus said: 

“If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his [y]life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

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Living the life Jesus' resurrection enables begins with each of us dying to our sinful self.  This begins with an awareness of sin and the guilt that comes with.  But it doesn't end there.  The biblical repentance required for salvation implies an acknowledgement of sin and a desire to turn away from it.  We must, like Jesus, both enter the tomb and walk away from it.

"I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

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Once we have died, it's time to live.  Not on our own...but WITH Him.  So many times, I meet people, good, Christian people, who strive to live the Christ-life on their own.  They pray.  They demonstrate their faith, and they seek God in their own way.  But there is something lacking: a personal recognition of every second lived in the presence of God!  A celebration of the divine life lived in us.  We are modern-day disciples.  And like the Disciples of old, we have the opportunity to walk through life with Jesus...talking with Him as we would a friend and Mentor.  

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Remember the Disciples' accounts of the first Easter morning...  Mary Magdalen "and the other Mary" (Mt. 28:1) woke early and headed to the tomb.  Luke's account says they brought spices (to properly finish the burial process).  On arriving, they find the stone rolled away and the burial cloths empty.  Two angels greet them and announce that "He has risen, just as He said" (Mt. 28:6). 

The women make their way back to where the 12 are staying and tell them what has happened.  

"And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to report to His disciples" (Mt. 28:8). 

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Notice the word "ran?"  Well, the women weren't the only one's running that morning.  

"So Peter and the other disciple left, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead, faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first" Jn. 20:3-4). 

From walking home dejected a few days earlier.  To running with exhilaration.  He's alive?  He's ALIVE!!!  What a turn-around.  From death to life. 

 

It wasn't a prayer sent off to heaven that motivated them that morning.  It wasn't even an awareness of sin.  They just simply wanted to see and speak with JESUS.  On the road to heaven, there's no way around the cross.  Sin must be dealt with.  And death is the only solution.  But we don't have to stay in the tomb. 

Jesus is alive.  For those who know, there's excitement involved.  There's running, there's telling, heck, there's even shouting sometimes.  Jesus wasn't just a part of the story for these first Christian Disciples.  Jesus was the story.  They desperately wanted to be with Him. 

 

And Jesus felt the same.  John and Matthew's accounts remember Jesus nearby the tomb.  John says He appeared to Mary as she was grieving (Jn. 20:14-5).  Matthew says, "He met them...and they rejoiced and worshipped Him" (Mt. 28:9). 

 

I've emphasized the opportunity and joy of doing life with Jesus.  But have you ever considered how much Jesus wants to do life with you?   

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It's Easter.  He is risen!  And we with Him.  Now is the time for living.  Not on our own.  Not even "biblically" by ourselves.  But every day in loving, two-way relationship with our Savior, Teacher, and friend.

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