It’s been four days since Resurrection Day. How many notifications have you received about Mother’s Day or summer sales already?
Planning ahead is necessary but we’ve lost our ability to savor, to pause in the now, to experience the wonder of this present moment.
On this day in 33 A.D., the entire city of Jerusalem and even surrounding districts was flooded with news stories with wild extremes of opinion regarding the miraculous resurrection. Strong reactions on both sides filled the air.
Alleyways, streets, and shops were filled with the people who were curious or who knew: shouts and cries and exuberant greetings; “Christ is Risen, do you know, have you heard the good news?” There was nothing reserved about those who believed in Jesus that day. New believers’ faces were alive with radiant joy.
Hungry families still needed to be fed, babies still needed new diapers, trips to the market still happened, but what occupied the women’s thoughts as they sifted through the selection of produce was the greater story of the man Jesus.
Are you still savoring the wonder of the resurrection or have you moved on?
It’s a challenge requiring deliberate choosing, like beginning each day with a simple prayer of thanksgiving for the cross and the resurrection: “Thank You Jesus for choosing to go to the cross and staying there until it was finished. Thank You for the resurrection which gives me hope that You can resurrect my life too. Amen.” Another idea is to leave your Easter decorations and resurrection reminders up all week and into next week.
It’s too easy to move on from the cross, to leave wonder and awe behind.
It’s also easy to choose unbelief like Thomas and many others who on this day in 33 A.D. had yet to believe Christ had risen. Thomas famously said, “I will not believe until …”
Since Easter Sunday you’ve experienced real struggles with your little ones, with teens, and you aren’t sure your repeated prayers are doing any good. You’ve run into unexpected disappointment or disillusionment in your work this week and in your heart you wonder if God has forgotten you, overlooked you, doesn’t care about your small stuff. It could be your marriage or other important relationships. Truthfully anything could have harmed your faith, stolen your joy of salvation.
Challenges to faith, to our belief in Jesus, happen to all of us at all ages and stages of life, every single day. The week following the greatest moment in history may be Satan’s favorite time to discourage believers.
Will you choose today to remember and believe Jesus has risen from the dead and therefore He can help you with what you are facing today?
And if you aren’t living with a hardship today, give thanks. Ask God to help you be the one to encourage other believers to stand strong. Savor the victory of the cross and help others do the same by choosing to greet everyone in your family and your church or neighborhood friends with the greeting the disciples used in those early days following the Resurrection: Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!
Let’s make Jesus smile by our response to Him and His unspeakably miraculous work on the cross for each one of us!
It is still the Easter season in the church calendar.
Find ways to keep remembering and savoring.
Join us in being #Easterpeople all year long because the cross is everything!
Me love #Easterpeople :-0)
I am trying to intentionally keep Easter in my heart, mind, and prayers longer this year. I still have my He Is Risen plaque up in my living room where I walk by several times a day. Thank you for the encouragement and inspiration.
Thanks for sharing and reading the blog!
Great thoughts today Barbara. My ETH “He is Risen!” banner is still hanging and will be for the foreseeable future!
That’s wonderful! Great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Barbara for your wisdom and encouragement to savor the Savior. You are So right about the Mother’s Day ads and so on. My family and I really celebrated Holy Week and Easter. I want to thank you for really emphasizing how important it is to remember Easter and our risen Savior. What a blessing it has been and continues to be for me. Thank you for your obedience!
Thanks for reading the blog! So glad it encouraged you!
Thank you so much. Life gets busy and in the way of the greatest celebration of all!!! Jesus has risen indeed, after dying for me!!! Thank you again!
Amen to that Barbara ! yes those Mothers day ads emerged right after the resurrection; which also saddened me. I am savoring Easter by repeating the Sermon Title : ” the stone rolled away”. We were encouraged to post those words in print ,in
prominent locations of our homes. The meaning behind those words give us great
HOPE amids our deep disappointments, our despair, our loneliness our hurts.
Thanks for sharing!