The Ongoing Impact of the Resurrection

Easter services are so inspiring and uplifting. I e-mailed Mike Cope yesterday thanking him and the other staff and volunteers for letting the Lord use them to plan one of the most touching Easter Sundays I've ever experienced.

And now it's Tuesday. The routines continue -- going to work, painting our bedroom, washing clothes and dishes. How can I live differently in the midst of the dailyness of life because of the resurrection of our Lord? Reading these words from John Piper yesterday helped me:

The hope of the resurrection radically changed the way Paul lived. It freed him from materialism and consumerism. It gave him the power to go without things that many people feel they must have in this life. For example, though he had the right to marry (1 Corinthians 9:5), he renounced that pleasure because he was called to bear so much suffering. This he did because of the resurrection.

This is the way Jesus said the hope of the resurrection is supposed to change our behavior. For example, he told us to invite to our homes people who cannot pay us back in this life. How are we to be motivated to do this? “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14).

This is a radical call for us to look hard at out present lives to see if they are shaped by the hope of the resurrection. Do we make decisions on the basis of gain in this world or gain in the next? Do we take risks for love’s sake that can only be explained as wise if there is a resurrection?

Do we lose heart when our bodies give way to the aging process, and we have to admit that we will never do certain things again. Or do we look to the resurrection and take heart?

We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

I pray that we will rededicate ourselves during this Easter season to a lifetime of letting the resurrection have its radical effects. -- John Piper

Yesterday I tried something different that I pray was a response to this new life given to me through our resurrected Lord. I put on my "To Do" list to do loving things for people all day. I mean, to be intentional about showing special kindness to others. It's amazing how the Lord gave me ideas all day to do little things for folks -- going by and seeing my wife at work on the way back from lunch; spending time back in the boys' clothing room, visiting with Imogene, our 92 year old volunteer; offering to call folks to bring in newspaper articles written about two of our volunteers.

I can't take credit for what I did. It was the Holy Spirit in me prompting me to carry out little acts of kindness. Just think how the world would change if followers of Jesus lived out this life of love each day -- dying to our selfish will and letting Christ love others through us.

That's one way that I believe we can let the resurrection have an impact on us daily. What other ways do you see?

Jim