The Word for Today

1. The word 'resurrection' means 'the standing up of a corpse.' Most religions teach the concept of immortality, but only the Christian faith teaches bodily resurrection. 'If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.' The patriarch Job, whose children all died tragically in a single day, asked, 'If a man dies shall he live again?...' (Job 14:14 NKJV). We ask this when death claims someone we love. So God gave Job, and us, an answer that dries our tears, heals our broken hearts and focuses us on something greater than this temporal life with all its troubles: 'For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!' (Job 19:25-27 NKJV). The next time you see a butterfly soaring, stop and remind yourself, 'That's my future!' No matter how you dress your body up, at best it will always be a caterpillar. But when it emerges from the cocoon of death and rises to meet the Lord in the air, it will take on His beauty and His likeness. '...The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words' (1Thessalonians 4:16-18 NKJV).
2. Imagine having to stand on a stage and watch every sin you've ever committed replayed for the entire world to see - your secret addictions, your selfish motives, your angry outbursts, your critical attitudes, and your jealous heart. How do you think you'd feel? Well, Jesus experienced much worse. The Bible says: 'He...bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed' (1Peter 2:24 NKJV). It's bad enough to die for sins you didn't commit, but imagine being forsaken by God! It's the same word Paul used when he wrote: 'Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world...' (2 Timothy 4:10 KJV). Paul looked for Demas and couldn't find him. And on the cross, Jesus looked for His Father and couldn't find Him either. Does that mean the Psalmist was wrong when he wrote: '...I have never seen the righteous forsaken...' (Psalms 37:25 NIV)? No, because at that moment Jesus was anything but righteous. When you look at Him hanging there you will see the gossiper, the liar, the cheater, the alcoholic, the porn addict, the child abuser, the murderer. Does it bother you to see His name linked with theirs? Well, Jesus did even more. He put Himself in their place - and yours. In a move that broke God's heart and gave us the gift of eternal life, He poured out His righteous judgment on His only Son. So when Jesus cried from the cross, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?' He said it so that you would never have to. What wondrous love.
3. Christ, the founder of Christianity, was the only man capable of making an appointment beyond the grave and turning up to keep it. Jesus told His disciples, 'After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee' (Matthew 26:32 NKJV). And He did. If you visit the graves of those who founded the great religions of the world, you will find that they are still occupied. But if you visit the grave where they laid Jesus, you will find that it is empty and the words of the angels still echoing, 'He is not here, but is risen!' Those words turn every Christian burial into a celebration. Jesus promised, 'Because I live, you will live also.' Eventually you will die of something; the question is; how can you die right? There are two correct answers to that question: 1) By preparing in advance. It was a truly human tombstone that bore the inscription, 'I expected this, but not just yet.' Here's how you prepare for death. 'If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved' (Romans 10:9 NKJV). 2) By fulfilling your life's assignment. Jesus said, 'I have glorified You on earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do' (John 17:4 NKJV). In the final audit you will stand before God and He will ask you, 'What did you do with the gifts I gave you? Did you fulfil your assignment on earth?' In that moment, nothing will be more important than how you answer that question.
4. Here's an ancient Scripture with a modern message: 'As they were going down to...the city, Samuel said to Saul...'stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.'' Today we are told that in order to succeed we must hit the floor running at a hundred miles an hour, and keep it up until we collapse in the sack at night. And what's the downside to all this? Our walk with the Lord slows to a crawl, or stops altogether. Our busyness leads to spiritual barrenness. Being part of the chase can be exciting and rewarding, but it leaves little or no time for God. And you don't have to be in business. Look at mothers with small children: every minute consumed by little creatures who pull at you, scribble on your walls and walk mud all over your floor, then have the nerve to wake you up in the middle of the night. If that's happening to you, you need to say: 'Time out! I refuse to put my spiritual life on autopilot, mouthing meaningless prayers and leafing through a Bible I neither study nor live by. I'm going to pay whatever price it takes to walk with God.' Doing that will not be easy. You'll have to start saying no to certain things, and run the risk of displeasing people. But it's the only way you'll be at peace with God and be in a position to hear what He's saying to you. Nobody ever said the Christian walk is easy, but is anything in the world of more lasting importance or more rewarding?
5. The Bible says, 'Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.' We grow up being told, 'If you want something you'll have to work for it.' But a strong work ethic can skew our thinking when it comes to receiving what God wants to freely give us. God is always pouring out His blessing, and as empty, thirsty vessels we must learn to open our hearts to what He offers. To 'get' implies to obtain by our own effort. To 'receive' implies to accept what's being freely and graciously offered. Jesus came to deliver us from struggling, not invite us into a new way of struggling under the banner of Christianity. We need to realise that all of God's blessings are given because of grace, and received by faith. One Bible teacher writes: 'I was always trying to "do" something, and leaving God out of the loop. I tried to change myself, my family, circumstances I didn't like, even make my ministry grow. But God will never permit us to succeed without Him. If He did, we would take all the credit. Finally I learned to pray for what I needed and allowed God to provide it His way, in His timing. When I did, I entered into His rest.' But in order to live this way you must realise your importance to God, and then learn to count on His grace. The truth is; He is more than willing to help you if you'll only let go of your independent attitude.