What Difference Does Easter Make? - Pt. 1

 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV).

 

I hope you were encouraged with the past few devotionals dealing with the proof of the resurrection; however, I wonder if you may have come away with a sense of “so what?” Recently I received a message from a reader asking that question. They wrote: “I believe in Jesus whether He was really resurrected or not. Does it really matter?” So, for the next few days I want to explore some differences that the resurrection means for every believer.

 

We can say so many things about the effect of Christ’s resurrection on our present life as Christians. No one has truly exhausted the possibilities of what God may be willing to do in us and through us because of the power of the resurrection of Christ in us. This is what the Apostle Paul referenced in our reading today. Read it again: “[God] is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (v. 20). There’s the connection between this verse and what he said earlier in the letter (cf. Ephesians 1:19): the power that makes it possible for us to do far more abundantly than we even dream we could is the very power of God that he worked when he raised Christ from the dead. This is the power for the abundant life Jesus came to give us (cf. John 10:10).

 

Every other religious sect depends largely on the individual’s effort and leaves them powerless in the face of life’s greatest fear, which is death. Jesus’ work on the cross and his resurrection changes all of that. We have a God who does for us more than we could even dream of, including the elimination of death’s grip on our life. And that’s just the beginning. The resurrection matters enormously! Embrace it! Celebrate it!