The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Affirmed Alive"
Part 2 - Countless Opportunities
"The chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure" (Matthew 27:62-64).
"One Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive" (Acts 25:19).
Few, if any, more practical truths exist than the Biblical calling to believe and affirm the Lord Jesus Christ as risen from the dead. Our Christian life began with this confession and belief:
"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).
Walking with God subsequent to salvation continues in the same faith. We trust and serve a living Savior, whose resurrection impacts not only the new birth, but also every aspect of our lives.
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him… He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?… The I may know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Colossians 2:6; Romans 8:3; Philippians 3:10).
If we believed in the risen Christ to enter into relationship with God, we can rightly expect to live the Christian life by affirming the same. The risen Christ dwells within us. The risen Christ motivates, leads, and empowers us. The risen Christ journeys with us along every way of our lives, and waits for us to arrive at every venue. The risen Christ ever lives to make intercession for us, and restores and cleanses us when we fall. The risen Christ both blesses and serves as the chief blessedness of every gift of God. The risen Christ administers His "very present help in trouble." The risen Christ will accompany our journey home to Heaven some day, and the risen Christ will Himself be the very heart of our eternal dwelling place with God. In this present hour, the risen Christ comprises the greatest reality and truth of our hearts and lives. "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).
Are there matters of life in which we are not affirming the Lord Jesus to be alive? The temptation often confronts us to forget, ignore, or even disbelieve that His risen life awaits us in all things. Our Lord died and rose again for so much more than merely redemption from our sins, wondrous as that is. He lives to impart His life to every aspect of our existence, from the epicenter of our hearts through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to the most seemingly minor and inconsequential aspect of our doings. We will not always think in such terms as our left hand remains often unaware of the doings of our Christ-empowered right hand (Matthew 6:3). However, we must build within our hearts and minds the growing conviction that a Life so great as to have overcome death teems within us, and all about us. We then recognize that countless opportunities in a fallen world rife with death will present themselves, calling us to our own confession, "One Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive."
Sometimes it seems that the enemy of our soul wins
over and over and over and over again.
But if we could see the truth much more clearly, my friend,
we'd see Christ triumph over death, hell and sin
over and over and over and over again.
The tomb is empty, the Throne above occupied,
for Christ is risen again, from death glorified.
Oh remember when hot, stinging tears fill your eyes
the triumph He's shown so many times in our lives,
over and over and over and over again.
Forever draws nigh, we will be there with Him soon, my friend.
The trials of this life will be gone when with Him we're with Him in Heaven.
Glories we'll see, majesty without end
that sing the glad hymn, Christ is risen again,
Over and over and over and over again,
Over and over and over and over again.
"But now is Christ risen from the dead."
(I Corinthians 15:20)
Weekly Memory Verse
If God be for us, who can be against us?
(Romans 8:31)
6859
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