The Power of Christ's Resurrection

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (rf. 1 Pet. 1:3–5 NASB)

As we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this month, it gives us an opportunity to stop and review exactly why we set aside this day as a special holiday of celebration in the first place. Is it merely a tradition that affords us the chance to purchase new clothes and the venue in which to display them akin to the runway in the fashion world? Or have we, like the society around us, only added it to the list of days for the “kid’s benefit” so that we can have another excuse to load them down with toys, candy, etc.? In other words, what is our real purpose in celebrating Easter beyond the accoutrements of clothes and candy? Have our lives been thoroughly and totally impacted by its message as to compel us to want to join in with fellow believers around the globe in honor and glory and in remembrance of Christ’s work to make this day unique among all others? These are paramount questions we must ask ourselves.

The Apostle Peter reminds us in the passage above that the resurrection of Christ, the event that makes Easter distinct and exceptional, did not just “obtain (for us) an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled…ready to be revealed in the last time”. No, the resurrection of Christ gave to His followers a “living hope”; that is, the power of His resurrection in the life of the believer is to be fleshed out in this world, lived out in everyday life so that those around him/her will see by our lives the reality of this power flowing through us.

Peter is not just speaking of Christ’s resurrection as being the means of getting us into heaven. Au contraire, mon ami. He is encouraging believers in Christ to live in the hope of His resurrection power so that we literally may be the lights of hope to a world darkened and dead in sin. When we have been transformed by His power and our lives are no longer the same as they were before because of Jesus, then we have great reason to look forward to raising up the Name of Jesus in glory for what He did that Easter morning so long ago. When our lives reflect daily that “living hope” in Christ, Easter is a very special day of celebration, but we also walk in the spirit of Easter every day of the year.

So, please do not misread my intentions, here. New clothes are nice, but not necessary in order to celebrate Easter. Candy is sweet and chocolate is wonderful (how well I know), but is not required for an Easter celebration. Rather, an obligatory prerequisite would be for us to be committed to living out our faith by His resurrection power, moment by moment, so that, when Easter Day arrives, we can praise God for raising Jesus from the dead and, through Him, giving us new life as well. Then, with His power in us, we go forth truly changing our world for Christ, one life, one home, one community at a time.

God's Design for Marriage

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” (rf. Eph. 5:31–32 NASB)

            When my wife and I got married, we were both blessed to have had sets of parents who provided to us examples of what it meant to be committed to one another in marriage. Neither set would have admitted to perfection in their relationships, having struggled and committed many mistakes along the way, learning and growing together through the journey. However, their respective commitments to one another provided for Lori and me a tremendous groundwork upon which we could build our own marriage together. We could, hopefully, learn from their mistakes while understanding that we would make enough of our own, maturing together in our roles as husband and wife as well as parents when the kids came along, enjoying the victories together and rejoicing in this adventure called life and marriage.

            In quoting from the original passage from Genesis, Paul here in this text is not only connecting his teaching about marriage to the initiation of its institution, but is also laying the groundwork for its success. This passage in question has tremendous application, especially in our day when, not only is marriage itself under fire and stress, but is being undermined by a total void in grasping the importance of fulfilling God’s design for marriage itself. In other words, if those who are married would obey the tenets concerning the respective roles within marriage as God has set forth in His Word, then their marriages would work so much better and fewer marriages would end on the trash heap as do in our time.

            First of all, God states originally in Genesis that “a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife”. This truth is made all the more poignant when one considers that in Jewish culture the distance between a new husband and his father was often as far as across the patio since it was the son’s job to build his new home adjoining the father’s house. Therefore, it may not be a physical distancing in view here, but more of the son purposefully moving to the position of being the authority in his own home, rather than being under the authority of his father as he was previously before getting married. As a husband, he now becomes fully accountable for the goings-on in his home and is responsible for the provision and protection of his new bride. This is God’s design for the husband. He must be willing to sacrifice himself for his wife because of his great love for her, even as Christ was willing to give Himself up for His Church (rf. Eph. 5:25). He is now to be “joined to his wife”. They are now in unity with one another. They are now one body, “one flesh”, a family unit unto themselves, separate from his father and mother (and from her father and mother as well, mind you). Their decisions are now their own before God for which they are totally responsible. They are still connected by bloodlines to their respective families and are bound by the commandments to “honor (their) father and mother”, but this husband and wife are a family now unto themselves by God’s design.

            In the same context of Paul’s text, not only is the husband to take up his mantle of authority and responsibility before God to lead his new family, but the wife is to respect his leadership and encourage him in it (rf. Eph. 5:22, 33). Paul encapsulates these concepts within the backdrop of Christ’s love which is a must if these actions are to be correctly applied. The husband is to express his love for his wife in the same way “as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her” (rf. Eph. 5:25). Likewise, the wife is to love her husband as she loves Jesus, showing him respect “as to the Lord” (rf. Eph. 5:22). And, if you haven’t caught a parallel yet, the Scriptures clearly affirm what men have long known, that love and respect are two sides of the same coin. Men do not recognize one without the other. It is the way God has wired us. Thus, the admonition to wives is an encouragement that falls hand-in-hand with God’s creative signature.

            One of the reasons that marriages fail so often today is a failure to recognize and apply the truths of God’s design for His institution. Many husbands eschew any efforts to assume responsibility for their own actions, let alone responsibility for their family’s provision and protection. The allure for entertainment and personal pleasure has lead them to pursue other agendas, including means of sin, and left their wives and children, if any, barren of what could have been a loving husband, a strong marriage, and a blessed family life. Wives as well have assumed roles that were never designed to be theirs in the first place, either by choice or by default, resulting in anger, frustration and resentment, leading to bitterness. Respect would be a virtue hard-pressed to be located and, in many cases, deserved or awarded. Marriages suffering from these types of afflictions are, at the outset, in dire straits, very difficult to redeem. Only the grace of God through the power of His transforming Spirit can even hope to bring healing and restoration to such hurting marriage relationships.

            It is incumbent upon all of God’s true children to know what God has designed for His institution of marriage. He has a standard in place already for husbands and wives to strive for in serving each other and how to show His love one to another. If we have failed in the past to do so, His forgiveness is readily available for the asking. His Spirit is always willing to take us forward to a new and better experience in making our marriage more reflective of what it should be—like the relationship between Christ and His Church.

Sowing and Reaping

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

(rf. Gal. 6:7 NASB)

            When we were much younger, we gave no thought to how our actions and attitudes really affected others. We lived in the moment. We responded in ways that we felt were appropriate to our situation, our dreams, our futures, etc. We possessed the same mindset as expressed in the commercials of some years ago, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”, except appropriated, not for Vegas, but for our former times. We excuse them now as “past indiscretions”, not to be held against us for any reason. There should be no holdovers or sins for which we are presently responsible.

            Yet, as the Apostle Paul clearly states in the above passage, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” It is not that Paul is teaching that our past sins are not forgiven us, if we are truly repentant. God forbid that we come to such a conclusion! However, he shares an accompanying principle of utmost importance for us to grasp. Though our sins may be forgiven by God and cleansed by Christ’s blood, they may not be absent from consequences that are forthcoming. Let us take the following as an illustration. An alcoholic man who has been slave to liquor for many years is graciously saved by Jesus and is released from his bondage to the bottle, never to return. In his gratitude for his liberation, this man pledges his life in service to the Lord, sharing his testimony for years with great response to his heartfelt words. Then, one day, he is overcome with abdominal pain and is taken to the hospital where he is unfortunately diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Though he had been forgiven of his sin of alcoholism and released from its bondage, the consequences of all of those years of drinking took its toll on his liver and brought about the dreadful condition. Even as a believer in Christ, he was reaping what he had also sown.

            All of us must be very careful of what we do in the present. Our society teaches us through every medium to “live in the moment”. However, our actions and attitudes now have direct consequences not only to those around us at present, but also in how we will “reap” from those same actions and attitudes in the future. The principle quoted by Paul is irrevocable. It cannot nor will not change. Therefore, we are the ones who must be cautious in how we approach the present.

            One final illustration. In God’s great commandments, He said to “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (rf. Ex. 20:12 NASB). If today, we interact with our parents in a dishonorable and disrespectful manner, we are foolish to believe that God will sit idly by and let us get away with such a flagrant disregard to His commands (Remember: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked”). Most assuredly, as the grass greens following a refreshing spring rainstorm, so God will make sure your children will repay your previous dishonor and disrespect to you many-fold as a reminder that “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

            Let us then make a commitment to ourselves and to the Lord to be faithful to Him and to others at all times, especially in the present moment. May our prayer be to remember that all of our actions and attitudes directly affect the lives of others and are a reflection to others of how much of an influence Jesus Christ is on us daily. With this in mind and heart, in the future may we “reap” a great boon because of the present blessing we are consciously and willfully “sow(ing)” now.