So What Do We Do Now?

So what do we do now? Easter is over. The excitement and thrill of the resurrection of Christ stands as a distinct, yet distant, memory of this passed Sunday. All the celebrations and giving of thanks...all the Easter musicals performed by church choirs...all the deliciously prepared meals and Easter egg hunts...they're all over until next year.

So what do we do now? Do we just go on with life, never considering the resurrection until next spring?

In deciding that, I think we somehow have to get it into our heads that Easter Sunday or Resurrection Day, isn't just one day a year. It's not just an event that happened over two thousand years ago or something that we build ourselves up for once a year. The resurrection of Christ is SOO much more.

To Christians, it is everything.

Our faith, as Believers in Christ, hinges on the belief that God resurrected Christ. Without this supernatural event in the life of the Christ, Christianity would be a joke, and we would be the most pitiful of all people caught believing in a lie. There would be no hope of eternal security and no promise of an abundant life.

But JOKE, it is not. For the resurrection DID happen. Christ DID appear to His disciples, as well as over 400 other people before He finally ascended into heaven. He DID appear to the two men on the Road to Emmaus and teach them about Himself using the Old Testament. He did reconcile a beautiful relationship between Himself and Peter, who denied Him three times before mere men. He did eat fish, walk through walls, and cook breakfast for the disciples.

He truly DID rise again.

But what do we do with that information in the 21st century? What relevance to our everyday lives does it have, if any? What changes do we need to make in light of what we not only know to be true, but what has taken place deep within our own souls?

Well, what did the disciples of Christ do in the light of the resurrected Christ? Do you think they just celebrated one day by having a good meal, singing some musical stanzas down by the Sea of Galilee, hiding some Easter eggs (okay, so they didn't have Easter eggs back then), taking a nap and then going on with their daily life?

Not hardly.

The resurrection of Christ infiltrated the early disciples' lives. It affected their decisions. It took cowards who deserted Jesus in the garden and turned them into men and women willing to pay the ultimate cost for their belief in the resurrection. It changed them...not just internally for eternity, but daily for the rest of their lives.

Take Peter, for example. This boisterous disciple who denied Christ three times BEFORE the resurrection, never denied Him AFTER. He became the leader of the early Church and preached all throughout the countryside, telling others of the resurrection of Jesus. He penned at least two books of the Bible, while enduring persecution by the Jews and Romans...eventually being crucified for his faith. That doesn't sound like someone who treated the resurrection as just another day. That sounds like someone who really lived it out...who really believed that Christ's resurrection was real and had meaning for his "every day." He said, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope (emphasis mine) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (I Peter 1:3-5).

The "living hope" of the resurrection obviously changed Peter's day-to-day. My question is...shouldn't it change ours? And my answer to you and myself is a resounding, "YES, YES!" This "living hope" that Peter preached about shouldn't just be a part of my Easter experience, it should be with me when I awake every morning. It should exude from me when I go to the grocery store or drive my car in downtown traffic. It should shine from my life, so that others may wonder what it is that makes me so strong, when I should be so weak...for this hope that Christ gives to us, because of His resurrection is a living hope. It is alive and active in us...on a daily basis.

So what does it take for this living hope to become a part of our daily lives? It takes thought and effort. It takes intentionally spending time with Jesus. It takes making ourselves focus on the "Author and Perfector of our faith," when all we can physically see at the moment looks less than perfect. It takes concentrating on His thoughts every minute of the day...about how He wants to orchestrate our lives - good and bad - into something useful for His kingdom. It takes time spent contemplating the greatness and goodness of God. I think then, we will start to understand this hope that lives within us through the resurrection of Christ. Then, we will "live" Easter all year long.

My prayer is that you and I will truly experience this living hope in life today...that where-ever you and I may go, our hope will go with us and be lived out in us. May the resurrection be a celebration of our daily lives today...and not just our Easters.

Dear Jesus...Help us today to live a life of hope...the hope You provided, when You folded Your grave clothes ever so neatly and opened the grave for all to see You weren't there! Help us focus on the things that cause that resurrected life to surface in us today...things that remind us of our hope in You. Thank You for Easter, Jesus...and for the daily reminder that You live in us. We love You. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You.