Matthew 28:6

He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.

It seems that just about the only time we give any thought to the Resurrection and the life to come is on Easter.  Easter is often the only time we sing Easter hymns, or celebrate our faith in the light of our Lord who has risen from the grave.  It was not always this way.

As a matter of fact, the early church was so conscious of the resurrection of Jesus that Sunday, the first day of the week, became the Lord's Day.  The Jewish Sabbath, on Saturday, commemorated God's rest after the six days of creation.  But, Sunday, the Lord's Day, commemorates the Resurrection of our Lord, because it was on that day that he rose from the dead.

In the early Church, the most important thing for a believer to embrace was the Resurrection.  The Resurrection was the one glorious fact upon which all worship and life was based.  We would do well to make the Easter faith central to our own lives as well.

It is this Easter faith that makes us able to meet life as it comes to us, and to actually enjoy it - no matter what may occur.  This is because if we believe that Jesus Christ is alive from the dead, then we must also believe that all of life is lived in his presence, that we are literally never alone, that we are called to make no effort, endure no sorrow, face no temptation, or endure any troubles or trials without him.

It is the Easter faith which makes us able to meet death too.  That is because, in Jesus we have a companion who died and who is alive for evermore, a friend who has conquered death.  The one, who is present with us in life, is the same one who remains with us through death and everything that may come next. 

One writer tells the story about how his father, who was very old and verry ill, died.  On that final morning, the writer went up to his father's bedroom to wake him.  The old man said, "Pull back the blinds so that I can see the morning come."  The son pulled back the blinds, a ray of morning light entered the room, and the old man sank back onto his pillow and died.  Death was simply the prelude for a new day.

Easter faith should be in our thoughts.  It should be our constant meditation and not reserved for just a particular season of the Christian year, because it is the faith in which we Christians daily live, and in which we die, only to live again.  By his death and resurrection, Jesus pulled back the blinds so that now each oand every day we wake in new and breathtaking light.

In Christ, 

Brother Scott

See you Sunday!