Resurrected Hope
I love spring. Although I must say—thanks to age progression and allergies—spring hasn’t been very kind to me these last few years. Nevertheless, spring has always been my favorite season of the year. Where I’m from, we have the privilege of experiencing a little of all four seasons, but what I enjoy most about spring is seeing things come to life.
On a spring day, the picturesque view experienced during a car ride to and from work tends to every time without fail, set my mind at ease. Just cruising down the street on a sunny sky-blue day, surrounded by greenery on each side with white, pink, and yellow budding flowers on trees ahead, makes for the perfect back drop.
To see things that were once dead just weeks ago spring back to life, calls to mind how nature not only declares who God is but nature affirms His glory. Apostle Paul eloquently states it like this in Romans 1:20,
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (NIV)
God’s beauty and vibrancy is shown all throughout the material world. His glory is revealed to every humans’ mind in various ways through nature—the pure work of His hands (Psalm 19:1).
Amongst various qualities, this world is the visible exhibit of God’s omnipotence. Which is a power that cannot be limited by any force of nature, including death. And God’s power is not limited by death because He has the ability to resurrect things which were once dead.
I see how each spring season serves as a visual display and reminder of God’s resurrection power. And given the time and season in which we celebrate the Resurrection (also known as Easter), the commencement of spring oftentimes direct my thoughts back toward the greatest resurrection that’s ever occurred—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We often hear about the death of Christ, which along with the life of Christ is paramount to the saving of our souls. But it’s in the resurrection of Christ that we have hope (1 Corinthians 15:19).
If Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead, our faith and all that we believe in would be useless (1 Corinthians 15:14). But because Christ defeated death by rising back from the dead, we are no longer bound by sin but rather dead to sin and made alive in Christ. Now we too have the opportunity to have eternal life!
We now have the hope that we will experience a better world to come, where we will be fully redeemed and restored. There will be a complete healing of sorrow, pain, and infirmity. A new world in which we will see and experience the fullness of God’s glory, splendor, and beauty.
I also see how this resurrected hope reaches beyond the long-awaited great by-and-by to come. The promise of heaven and eternal life is great but additionally, this resurrected hope spoken of is applicable in sustaining us today!
Life on this side of eternity is without a doubt hard. However, because of the hope we have in the risen Savior who overcame this world, we also have the power to overcome this world and overcome hard things.
There’s currently a slew of hard things and even dead situations amongst us in this world today. Governmental concerns, social strains, racial tensions and let’s not forget the personal woes. I must say, I myself have been personally dealing with a few challenging and dead situations. Sometimes, I feel beyond tired and like things are going to take me under. But I’m reminded that there’s a resurrected hope for not only the future but a hope that sustains us today.
As a believer, Christ Jesus is the resurrected hope we have when faced with dead situations. 1 Peter 1:3 talks about how we are called to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our hope is in the person of Jesus Christ and not in the change of circumstances. He has the power to bring vitality into any and every dead situation. He meets us where we are, in the muck and messes of life and ushers us through it, never leaving us to deal with it alone. Amongst the mess—in Him—joy is found, peace is provided, and strength is obtained. All of which is a part of being made alive in Christ on this side of eternity.
We don’t have to wait to get to heaven to experience joy or peace. Resurrected hope made the access of joy and peace possible for our current day. It’s freely given and provided in any dead or hard situation we may find ourselves going through, in this world. Come what may, we are graced the power to endure because we know who is seated on the thrown and who has all authority, exercising it according to His will and purposes.
Although in this life, there’s not a total resolve of all things, we journey on with the hope that Christ sees, knows, hears, and walks alongside us. We also journey with the ultimate hope of one day, God making all things right in the end when we are fully redeemed and restored.
