I struggle with the gospel we preach these days. It seems so gloomy. But then again i also question my own understanding of the gospel. Am i watering it down?
We have just passed the holy week for us. There was good Friday and then Easter. I have come to a conclusion that many times i am just a good Friday christian. What i mean is that for me good Friday is the only thing i celebrate. Easter is just a one day event.
To explain, i give an analogy. If my heart is not well (there is a blockage), i am unable to live as i am meant to live. I am restricted. If it get's worse, i would need put in a stent or a bypass. If it get's worse, a new heart all together. A heart transplant - if there is one available.
Supposing i do have the transplant and the operation is so successful that the condition of the heart is so much better than the original one. And it heals completely till i can do things i never could before. I am in great shape now. Because of the transplant, i can now live as how i am meant to live.
You see where i am getting to?
Good Friday is like Jesus replacing that heart with his life. My heart was bad because of guilt and shame due to my sin and the consequence of sin in my life. Jesus takes the punishment and now i am at peace with God. My 'heart' has been healed completely - or rather totally changed.
But having a new heart is not the ultimate goal of the operation - it is so that i can live as i how i was meant to live. That is Easter - when Jesus conquers death, gives us the holy Spirit and now is now seated at the right hand of the Father ruling our lives and the world. Because of His resurrection, we are guaranteed of life. We know for a certainty of 1. Jesus is the Son and has come from the Father as his words have been consistently true and all the prophets for that matter of fact, 2. He is now exalted in the highest place, interceding and directing our every move and 3. He has sent his Holy Spirit to live in us. Now i am free to be human again with and through Jesus who is Christ and Lord. We have life again.
Now what i mean by us being just Good Friday Christans is when we just keep seeing how he dies for us, how he forgives our sins, how we are freed from sin. We are just thinking of our heart and not really just the life that he calls us to live. Guess when we keep at just our sins, we can manage life better. His death is definite, a done deal. So when we keep saying this, we venture into a path that has been trodden. I guess we cannot be wrong in this as even Paul states that he preaches nothing but Christ crucified.
But if we preach the Easter message, we would be confronted by the implications of Easter rather than just the reality. When i say we now live as how God meant us to live - it would mean living out the creation mandate - to take care, subdue and preserve God's creation and to live under Christ's rule. Now that is not a done deal. There is a lot of living to be done. But is is an adventure, a life full of surprises under the loving care of Jesus through the Holy Spirit for us - if only we trust and obey him.
Oh how i wish that at church and CF we continue to exalt the risen Lord and the redeemed people called to live his mandate more often. How i wish we don't just dwell in our sins being forgive but living out the reason for the forgiveness.
That is my Easter message.
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