Resurrection Power

UV 552/10,000 Resurrection Power Galatians 2 v 20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” When we take baptism, we identify ourselves symbolically with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus our Saviour. It is a massive transition from believing in Jesus as the Saviour of the world to accepting Him as our personal Saviour. As far as the law is concerned, our payment for sin is made. Imagine the Cross with charge sheets of sins of billions of people nailed on it. We have paid the price though vicariously through the death of Christ for following the lusts of the world, the lusts of our flesh. Now, we have a different calling to live for, to live for our Saviour for the rest of our earthly lives and for eternity, to live to fulfill not our wills but God’s will. We need to daily practice dying to our wills, our fleshly desires, our egos. We need to daily practice burying our pride as well as shame, our fears and inhibitions. To die in Christ means to die to our past ambitions, desires, priorities and habits. We command our ego “ Ye go” and “ He comes.” It is no longer “ I” alone who is living in this body but “ I –in –Him”. To live in Christ means to live a life filled with the power and hope of resurrection. The new life is a resurrected life. The power of Christ is manifest in various ways in our resurrected lives. One of the first physical events after the resurrection was the moving away of the huge stone boulder that blocked the tomb of Jesus. We too need to move the formidable obstacles that hamper and hinder us out of the way. We need to live not just with faith in Jesus, the dead Saviour but with the faith of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Maturity implies that we move from a mere faith in Jesus to grow into the very faith of Jesus. The only way to respond to such love as of the Father and of the Son is to give our lives as a sweet-smelling living sacrifice to God. “ Sweet-smelling” implies our lives should be pleasing to God. In simple managerial terms, it means re-ordering our priorities, replacing our agenda with God’s agenda. Where formerly, we lived for our own gratification and glory, now we begin to live for the gratification and glory of the Lord. We do live in the flesh and we do have material or monetary needs. But, we make even the mundane and routine a way to seek the gratification and glory of God. Even in the midst of our work or leisure,we take time to remember the Lord. He will make our days and our lives productive and useful. The disciples returned to their fishing nets after the climactic events of the Resurrection week but Jesus appeared and asked them to cast their empty nets on the right side of the boat. Their nets were filled with fish so much so they found it difficult to draw the nets. Resurrection power fills our formerly empty and vain lives with fulfillment, meaning, power and purpose. The “ hamartia” ( Greek for shortcoming) of mortal and carnal sin is replaced by the abundance of amazing glory and grace. Prateep V Philip