Dear Faith Family,
Happy Afer-Easter Week! I know that all the pre-Easter and Easter-Morning activities get all the attention, and rightly so, but the after-Easter attitudes and actions should not be passed over too quickly.
The marvelous wonder of living after Easter is that the struggle for life is over. No longer do we have to strive to attain life, nor do we have to keep it, though we will, as Psalm 143 revealed on Sunday, continue to face struggles within life. Yes, even after-Easter, there will be days and seasons where we feel the enemy's crushing closeness and the fatigue of a life pursued for ill purposes. Yet, Jesus alive means all those enemies of living, those adversaries of the soul that still kill and destroy have themselves met their better.
Each morning after-Easter, including this morning, we wake to the sound of steadfast love showing us the way we should go, teaching us how to live well, and leading us into open space. All because Jesus died for our sin, rose from the grave that first Easter morning, and lives this and every morning speaking the same words He spoke then:
"Peace be with you."
(John 20:19, 21, 26)
What if we believed that? I mean, really believed that peace was with us? What if you believed that your conflicts in life would not be your end? Nor will the ones you are in conflict with.
What if you believed that you are not alone, not left to wonder, not left to just figure it out on your own? But instead, what if you woke with ears open, expecting to hear steadfast love show, teach, and lead you into life whole and holy?
What all could an after-Easter life be...
if we believed?!
We'll start answering that question together on Sunday as we enter into our resurrected rhythms of rest and work together. But in the meantime, I invite you, my friends, to believe, trusting the good news that God is for you and with you. And, to imagine a life after-Easter, a life where you "have seen the downfall of your enemies" in the forever life of Jesus with others, for Jesus alive means He has,
"destroyed all the adversaries of my soul"
(Psalm 143:12)
Love you, faith family! God bless.