Have you ever thought about what it would take to change your life? I mean REALLY change it.
A $700 million winning lottery ticket? A guy who preferred spending time with you instead of watching games or playing golf? A job you actually enjoyed where you could make a lot of money and travel to faraway places on their dime? A husband who would love, provide and protect, instead of use, drain and hurt? Kids who acted like they were from the Von Trapp family singers instead of Lord of the Flies? A new identity so you could walk away from the past and its consequences and start over completely? Prince charming to pull you up on his white horse and take you away to his castle in paradise?
If only life was as good as a fairly tale. But it’s not. It’s messy. It’s hard. It’s spinning out of control. No matter what direction we try to go, we keep getting pulled down. Keep falling back to the places we hate to be. Keep getting reminded that we’re not who we want to be.
We’re stuck. In real life. In past hurts. In loneliness. In dead relationships. In debt. In depression. In lack of purpose. In everything.
But don’t despair, there’s good news! Something that changes everything!
The resurrection of Jesus! Hear me out and I’ll tell you how this changes everything, even your life. Most of us know the story of Jesus being killed on the cross on Good Friday and then rising from the dead on Easter morning. We’ve heard that Jesus took our sins upon Himself so that we could be released from death and have eternal life in heaven.
But what many Christians never experience is the new life that comes from the resurrection of Jesus. The joy and freedom found in everyday life. This is the game changer!
How do we experience this change? We believe, we surrender, we rise above.
We believe. We truly believe that Christ paid the full price of our ransom, meaning we’ve been set free from sin. And we believe that Jesus washes our sin away completely, meaning that our identity is now in Him and not in all of the bad choices we’ve made or the hard circumstances we live in. Christ is our Savior. And through Him we are survivors.
We surrender. We let go of how our life “ought to be”. We accept that we cannot change the past, but we can change the future. We surrender our desires for particular outcomes. And we run to Jesus! We let Him sit on the throne of our heart. He is God, and thankfully we are not. We’ve made a mess of our lives, and now we surrender to and learn from the One whose expertise is resurrected life.
We rise above. We actively wait as God transforms us from the inside out. We seek God in His Word, in prayer, in Bible Study, in sisterhood. We let Jesus lead our daily lives. We joyfully let go of the burdens we’re carrying and we follow Him on the path to new life. No matter where we’ve been and no matter where we are, it’s never too late to rise above our real life and spread our wings in the freedom of new life in Christ!
Laugh, sing, praise!
Let’s celebrate the resurrection of Jesus! He brings life out of death. He shines the light of hope into the darkness of this world. And when we follow Him, His love empowers us to conquer all that we face as we rise above our circumstances and soar to new life!
This changes everything!
“‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here: He has risen!’” Luke 24:5-6
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
Let’s Talk: What would it take to change your life?
May I pray?
Jesus, thank You for conquering death once and for all so that we too can experience resurrection! Lord, You have broken our chains of bondage to this world. Open our eyes and our minds to see how our choices either keep us in our stuck places or draw us closer to our God who sets us free. Help us to believe, surrender, and rejoice in Your love so we can rise above our circumstances and soar in the freedom of new life! Amen.