April Showers bring May flowers! I saw the header picture above, loved it, and had to use it for this month’s Messenger. Kim and I had a fun afternoon at Callaway Gardens, viewing the tulips a few weeks ago. Last year, we waited too late and missed it. But this year we saw them! WOW! However, not only were the tulips beautiful, but as a bonus, they put colorful umbrellas up as a covering to the walkway leading to the tulips. It was beautiful, as you can see in our pictures below.
As I write today, it’s a few days before Palm Sunday. But, by the time you get this, it will be after Easter. So, my mind is stirring in the “in-between.” On the one hand, the week of the Passion of Jesus lies immediately ahead. It is a week of betrayal, suffering, sacrifice, humiliation, and the terrible death of the Savior on the cross.
On the other hand, there is the empty tomb and the reality that although He died, He didn’t stay dead or stay in that tomb. He defeated death and came out of the grave to give us LIFE! It’s like the flowers after the rain.
What happened in history over the next week not only pays the price for our sin, which is a fantastic gift of LOVE, but it also provides the power for me to LIVE a life of victory, joy, and service as Jesus did. God brought me from darkness to light, from blindness to sight, and ultimately from death to life!
Here’s my (shortened for space sake) personalized paraphrase of Ephesians 2:1-10, which tells my (and our) story.
I was “dead in the trespasses and sins in which I walked…BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved me, even when I was dead in my trespasses, made me ALIVE together with Christ…and RAISED me up with Him and seated me with Him in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. For I am HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that I should walk in them.”
Personal Paraphrase of Ephesians 2:1-10 by Bro. Andy
It helps me to make it personal! All that Jesus went through and all that He suffered, even to death, was an expression of mercy, love, and grace for me–AND FOR YOU!
The forecast for next week is stormy and rainy. After the Triumphal Entry, the people will turn on Jesus and join the religious leaders in carrying out the hoax trials, humiliation, and crucifixion. In mercy, love, and grace, Jesus will go the distance and, through His death, pay the price for our sins. Those stormy few days ended with Jesus sealed in a tomb. He was dead.
But Sunday came, and the rain stopped, the umbrellas came down, and JESUS CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE! Like the May flowers result from the April showers, our new life in Christ is the result of His resurrection! Our lives should reflect the brilliant colors of spring and burst with the joy of new life. WE ARE ALIVE BECAUSE HE IS ALIVE!
Finally, as we go forward in RESURRECTION LIVING, remember that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And when He left and ascended back into Heaven, He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Don’t just live the resurrection life; share it with a world that needs it just as you do. God bless you, and I pray that this Easter was a life-changing day for you and that TOGETHER, we can change the world for the Kingdom of God!