The Day after Easter, Now What?

What happens next?  That’s what we ask when our favorite TV series ends.  We become curious about what’s next after reading a great book that hints at a sequel.   A person works toward retirement for decades, but after the retirement party they sometimes wonder, “What’s next?”

The same is true after other milestones, such as graduating from high school or college, landing the dream job, falling in love, conquering your first Xbox game, experiencing an unexpected loss, getting your driver’s license, turning 21, turning 30, getting married, bringing your first child home from the hospital, or buying your first car.

When the dust settles after Easter, many will return to their daily routine and put Christianity away until needed next time.  For others, Easter has been a time of Easter bunnies, chocolates, new clothes, and Easter Eggs.  With commercialization, many have forgotten what Easter is all about.  Whatever the season of Easter means to people, the end of Easter is reached and then many forget the meaning of the day. 

So what are we to do after the excitement of Easter is over?  Do we just go about living our lives the same old way?  Or does the experience of Easter change us and shape our life, or least refresh our standing commitment to our faith?

I want to make two observations about Easter Sunday.  The first is that while I’m always happy to see more people in church, there is a sadness that is attached to the higher numbers.  The sadness is that those same people who see a need to attend Easter services rarely see a need to come back again until Christmas.  Somehow they have missed the importance of what took place at the resurrection and just how transforming that one event can be.

My second observation is that as followers of Christ we shouldn’t need a special day to celebrate His resurrection.  Whatever unique feeling, blessing, worship, joy or significance we attach to Easter should not be confined to one day of the year.  Easter should be an everyday event for us.  I have no problem setting aside a day to remember such an remarkable event, as long as whatever is good about that day carries over to every other day of our lives.

God knew how difficult it would be for our finite minds to comprehend the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.  He even sent an angel to the tomb to redirect the women’s thoughts from doubt and pain to faith and joy.  “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!” (Luke 24:5-6)

Christ took on a human body, and through His death and resurrection, triumphed over sin and death when He rose from the grave.  Jesus is not a fictional character in a play.  He no longer occupies a tomb.  And just as He appeared to His disciples in His glorified, risen body so He continues to encourage His faithful followers through the Holy Spirit.

When the His followers gather for worship on Sunday they are testifying to the world that Jesus Christ is alive.  His living body, the church, is in the world as a witness to God’s miraculous work in Jesus.  By the living Spirit of Christ the church is empowered to declare the truth of Christ’s resurrection.  The church speaks the words of Christ, who said, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” (Luke 24:7)

Through Christ’s death and resurrection, God raised up His church to witness to the Almighty power of God and to testify that, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)   

A sinner sanctified and regenerated by the Holy Spirit sees Christ clothed in power, strength, honor, and glory.  And as members of Christ’s holy church, sinners living in the new life given them by Jesus Christ are called to surrender all to His authority.

The living Christ calls believers to a life of obedient servanthood to God.  And Christ empowers His servants through grace given through the Holy Spirit to be His loving ambassadors in the world, and ministers of reconciliation to those perishing in sin and death. 

As members of the church of Jesus Christ the faithful must surrender all claims to this world and be subjects of the living Lord.  The fear that grips us when we think of this submission is the reason we often want to roll the stone back over the entrance to the tomb.  But Christ calls us to a life of obedience.  By His grace He turns our hearts toward God and encourages us to do the work of God through His Spirit.

The church is the risen body of Christ.  And on the day after Easter, and each day after that, the stone remains rolled away from the entrance of Christ’s tomb, and all God’s people must begin the kingdom work of proclaiming the eternal truth to a dying world that Christ is alive!

The living Christ expects His followers to imitate Him in the world every day, go and make disciples, and be strengthened by the truth that Jesus is alive!

“And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:18-20)

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you can find peace with God.

When Life Doesn't Work Out

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Did you know that society has a list?  It’s a checklist that says, “If you are in this place in life, then you should have achieved certain things.”  For the college grad the list is an immediate steady job that can be transitioned into a long-term career.  Or if you’re a young married couple it’s a baby and a cute home.  And it seems that for a single woman it’s a husband, or at least a steady boyfriend. 

If you're an older person, then you should have made all the right financial moves and have a huge retirement nest egg, and ready to sail away to the Grand Caymans for that dream retirement vacation.  And if you don’t have these things, you are sadly behind in life, and worthy only of pity or shame.

It can be demoralizing.  The more you look at “the list” the more boxes seem to be unchecked in your own life.  Everyone’s great life is suddenly eclipsed by the feeling of being left behind.

Society claims that these achievements, relationship status, careers, income, location, are the yardsticks of success, meaning, and self-worth.

It’s not a stretch to say that most people have hopes and dreams for this life. I don’t personally know anyone who wants to live a bad life! Still, for many Christians, life doesn’t turn out that way.  The truth is, “the list” is a lie.  Society claims that these successes are the benchmarks of accomplishment, meaning, and self-worth.  It’s not true.  Our worth is based on who Jesus says we are, and He says we were worth dying for.

Perhaps you have experienced the disappointment of dreams and goals that have gone unfulfilled, and life’s reality breaks through the front door of our lives.

Let me share with you a personal example.  There was a time in my life where I felt like God stripped away all the things I tend to place my identity in besides Him.  It was like He unchecked every box, and then looked at me and said, “If I tell you right now, without the ability to do any of these things, that I love you, and that you are worthwhile and important, will you believe me?”  

That question was difficult to answer.

Seven years ago, having just turned 60, a wonderful wife, and was traveling the world doing ministry for the Lord, it was discovered that the arteries in my legs were becoming blocked, and because of a lack of blood circulation my legs were dying.  There was no heart disease in my family, and I had spent a lifetime jogging, hiking, and working out.  Subsequently, both my legs had to be amputated.

Certainly my plans did not include dealing with something like this, so my disappointment at this new reality of life hit me hard.  Now, several years later, although my life has regained its sense of balance, I live with the knowledge that in this life, I won’t have all that I wanted or envisioned.

I share this personal story with you because, like you, I am also on a journey to being a committed follower of Christ, and the journey includes all of our life experiences, both good and bad.  While we can’t have everything that we want, we can trust that God provides for what we need.  God is in the business of providing opportunities for us to grow in faith daily.  And, it seems that most often these opportunities take the form of struggles and trials.

Painful life experiences may not be enjoyable, but they can absolutely be good and worthwhile, if in the middle of them we allow ourselves to be molded into the likeness of Jesus!  We are both able and accountable for choosing our response to trials.  A time of trial forces a decision to be made and our decision, like facing a fork in the road, determines which road we take.  One road leads to despair and bitterness, the other road leads to hope and developing a Christ-like character.

Today, I encourage you to be mindful that we can’t always get what we want in life, but we can choose, even in the middle of disappointment, to trust that God will provide everything we need!

Allow me to leave you with one last thought, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you can find peace with God.