The Resurrection part 3
All I want to say in this Rant series (and all I think I've been saying) is that the resurrection is not in your future. Its in your past. Eternal life doesn't start when you die. It has always been and will always be. And we jump into this river of living water (so to speak) through the waters of baptism. But lets really take a minute and define what we're talking about here. Because I think you all know by now that I don't believe in a cosmic elevator that either takes you up (if you've been good) or down (if you've been bad). I don't believe the God who IS love subjects the people He created TO love to eternal torment. I think LIFE is more important than afterlife. Jesus said it in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Jesus came that we might have LIFE. Not an afterlife. And, again, I'm not trying to take anything away from anybody. I believe that absent from the body is present with the Lord. Beyond that, I'm not too concerned with what happens when my body dies. I know its a change. I don't need to know into what. I think we have this life, and we shouldn't waste it robbing ourselves of the gift we've been given. We shouldn't wait for--or, worse, work for--something that has already happened. We know that we HAVE passed from death into life because we love our brothers (and sisters, and mothers, and fathers, and friends). Love is the difference between death and life. When you know (and believe) that you are loved... you can love. And that means you can live. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. See, before the cross we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were trying to earn something that can't be earned. Earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. But you can't earn a gift. Jesus is the bread of life, and He gave Himself to us. Freely. Willingly. So instead of trying to earn, we need to learn to receive. Receive and release. Receive BY releasing. Release by receiving. We need to stop sleep walking. Stop acting like we're dead, and just waiting for life to come. Life came! God gave us His life when He gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus gave us His life when He laid it down on the cross and then took it back up again. When He wrapped us up in Himself. He drew us into Himself when He was lifted up on the cross. And now we're in Him because He's in us. He LIVES in us. And through us. And as us. We can experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives it. Because nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. But if we will be still and know that HE is God... then we can experience His life. We can experience the gift we've been given by giving it away. By sharing it. Sharing our lives. Sharing our love. One more time: Receiving it and releasing it. Love IS giving, right? So you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. That's what the resurrection did--it put us in a position where we could live and love. Live BY loving. It put us in a position where we can stop trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we think we haven't got... and we can just be who we are. Who we really are. Which is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us!