I'm excited to be back blogging after a hiatus of listening, a practice I have incorporated more into my life.
I was inspired at a sunrise prayer meeting this morning where we focused on living with resurrection hope. We met at the same time Mary Magdeline likely visited Jesus's tomb. The stone was rolled back when she arrived, and Jesus wasn't there. In her despair, Jesus appeared to her, but she did not recognize Him because she was looking in the tomb for the Risen Savior. Aren't we just like that? Living in the tomb of our problems instead of the new life Christ provides.
Christ offers resurrection hope, but we keep focusing on our private prisons of pain. Many of us have lost hope that things will change. Maybe it's an important relationship, a child's condition, or even how we look at life, seeing the bad instead of the good in people and our surroundings. But we are resurrection people; Hallelujah is our song.
Transformation happens when we look to God for help. We do not live by the world's system, but by a different design based on God's power, not ours. God stands outside our system; He is not constrained by those things that limit us. His ways are greater. He is the creator and can do anything. His grace is disruptive and brings a supernatural perspective that is not dependent upon our circumstances, giving us hope even in the face of suffering and despair.
God is always with us, but we often miss Him when we try to solve our problems alone. He wants to speak to our places of hopelessness and bring new life. Like Ezekiel 37: 4-5 says, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life."
This spring, when new life is everywhere, in the mustard covering our hills and the flowers blooming in our gardens, let us remember how Christ creates new life in us. The abundant life that stands outside our limited thinking. Just like Mary, He is just waiting for us to look up.
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