Yes, it is Wednesday. And it is a dangerous thing when I sit here and think. Actually my thinking about this topic starting this morning when I was going though my morning routine. I was thinking about it being the Wednesday after Easter. For most of us, our lives have gone back to normal. The weekend is over. Many people had Friday off work and school and many schools were closed on Monday. So Tuesday saw us get back into the swing of things (unless you had to start on Monday). So today is the day we are all back to normal activities.
The thoughts of Easter have been fading into the back corners of many people's minds. Yes, the wonder of Easter came, it burst on the scene with "alleluias" and worship services. There may have been the family gathering. There were the lilies and all the other flowers. But now it is all over.
I was thinking about the disciples and the other followers of Jesus. What were they doing on this date those many years ago? Did they go back to their normal routines? We know that Peter and some of the others returned to Galilee and ended up going fishing. There they met Jesus in the mundane actions of their life (which I am sure will come out somehow in the near future). But for now, they were still in Jerusalem. Thomas had missed Jesus. The men from Emmaus had come back after talking and walking with Jesus. But it was now Wednesday, mid-week. They didn't know that Jesus would be back on Sunday. They had no clue when they would see Jesus again.
How do you act when you have encountered the risen Jesus? How do you go about living like nothing happened after talking with the man who hung on the cross, was laid in the tomb and then came back to life? How do you go about your day after that event?
I wondered about that today. I thought about it. I didn't have any answers. But I do think that there is one thing I can say - nothing would be the same again. You can't encounter the risen Christ and now have your life changed.
That should be the same for each of us. We can't encounter the risen Christ without our lives being changed. But let me ask you, "Was your life changed after this last Sunday, Easter Sunday"? Or are you back into your regular routine, doing the same things, acting the same way? Are you back to your normal sins? Are you still cussing or looking at porn? Are you still angry with your brother, sister or neighbor? Do you still harbor bitterness towards someone else because of something, whatever it might be? Are you still drinking too much? Are you still doing drugs? Are you having that affair? Are you still worrying about things that you have no control over?
I know, you are going to tell me that Easter didn't change a thing in your life. Why not? Why didn't it change your life? Why didn't it change your heart? Imagine standing there in that upper room , encountering the risen Lord, and then on Wednesday saying, "Nothing has changed." Would that be possible?
Yes it would. Why? Because we are sinners by nature. That sinful nature can take over our hearts and lives and harden them towards the living Lord. And when that happens, then we go right back to the same things that we were doing before we encountered the risen Lord. It is possible. And I am sure that for some of them on that first Easter, they did just that.
But for others! WOW! The Holy Spirit changed them. Their lives would never be the same. As I thought about that, I prayed, "Lord, send that same Spirit into my life so that I will never be the same again. Change me. As I have encountered You, make my daily life different from the way it was before."
What was it like on that Wednesday after encountering the risen Lord?
No comments:
Post a Comment