Once the Easter Sunday church service is over, your Easter table is empty, and the leftovers are in the fridge and you are ready to return to a normal Monday morning, what is different?
Every year Christians repeat and celebrate the message that Jesus has risen on Easter Sunday. Easter gives us the opportunity to rejoice in the beautiful gospel story, to share the power of our faith and to testify of all that God has done for us.
Instead of letting Easter come and go like any other holiday, it can also be an opportunity to reflect on how we can live differently because of the resurrection every day. These are just a few ways that your life can and should look different because of the power of Jesus' resurrection.
Forgiving & forgiveness
One way the Christian message is earth shattering and different from any other religious view is because God came to us as Jesus and died for our sins. All other "gods" and religious stories require that humans make their way to God. Jesus reversed this on Easter by making His way to us and giving us a clear path to God.
Now followers of Jesus are left with the responsibility to forgive because we have been forgiven (Colossians 3:13). The power of forgiveness freely offered to us in Jesus has been given to us and allows us to live and walk in forgiveness ourselves while also forgiving others because of this identity shift God gave us.
Living with boldness & security
A daily Christian life should be marked by boldness and security in God. We see this in the gospels as the disciples boldly proclaimed the gospel message and went into dangerous places to share the good news because of the confidence they had in their futures with Christ. The security they had didn't come from anything in the world, it came from the power of the resurrection.
This is true for us today, although it might feel a bit more distant to us. Let Easter be a reminder of where your security is. With security in the truth of the gospel and the power of the resurrection, maybe God is calling you to live a life marked by boldness? Consider what this would look like for you today.
Relying on the Power of the Cross
The power of the cross can feel like a cliche phrase in the Christian world if you've heard it enough. Jesus died and rose again to conquer death, darkness and sin. He gave us access to this same power once and for all on that day.
However, it can be easy to become discouraged or disillusioned in the world.
There is evident sin in our culture today and in our personal lives it can feel like certain sins are harder to talk about or impossible to overcome. This is simply a lie.
A follower of Jesus today can look to the power of the cross and rely fully on Jesus' power to overcome any sin or darkness in today's world because Jesus already made a way.
No fear of evil
As we watched our newsfeeds and TV screens anxiously when the pandemic swept across the world it felt like new levels of fear had entered into the world. Many Christians responded with fear and anxiousness alongside the rest of the world as an unknown threat presented itself to the world. Since then, I keep noticing that there's always something else.
We are invited into fear every moment of every day. But we know that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) With a Kingdom perspective and knowledge of the resurrection, we don't have to fear any evil.
We have a sure confidence that God is on the throne and that what He has promised will always come to pass. The resurrection victory has been and always will be ours.
A hopeful worldview
The resurrection gives us a clear vision for where our hope comes from. In a world that often feels dark, gloomy and destructive we know that there is a loving God who is in control.
There is no one who is beyond saving. Everyone is invited to experience eternal life with God. And no matter how lost we might feel, how dire the circumstances seem or how intense a season of suffering gets, we already see how the entire story unfolds and know what is to come.
Because of this, we should be the most hopeful people to walk the earth--always encouraging, building each other up, and eager to share this hope with the world.