Computers, smart phones, and tablet devices have changed the world forever. They offer conveniences many wonder how we ever lived without. But with those conveniences come plenty of headaches as well. I am a Mac (Apple) guy. But I haven’t always been. I used Windows-based PC’s for a long time. There was, at least at that time, an experience common to Windows users, and has resulted in many a fist being put through walls, or perhaps even computer monitors. It usually went something along the lines of a very important project or college paper being horrifically interrupted by a sudden lag in performance, virus, frozen machine, or the dreaded “ blue screen of death.” All unsaved work suddenly lost. Ouch. Since I’ve owned a Mac, that experience has been very rare indeed, but Macs aren’t perfect either.
There is only one thing to do in such an instance. You have to start fresh. A clean slate. You have to reach down, push the button, and reboot.
I think that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most misunderstood, or perhaps, not fully understood events in the Christian life – at least in terms of what it means for how we live today.
There is no way that I can bring all that the Resurrection means to light in this short article, but here’s one short picture: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the act of God pressing the “Reboot” button on His entire creation. Windows based computers have a tendency to slow down over time as they get plugged full of cache information, registry errors, fragmented hard drives, viruses, etc. Eventually everything comes to a grinding halt unless you know how to keep things clean and running smoothly. Our world is like that, but much more frighteningly so.
But in Jesus Christ God began a second Genesis. New Creation. The fresh, perfected work is pictured and embodied in Jesus’ resurrected being. It is the ultimate and final reality that God has in store. It is His new creation that has even begun to break into and invade the old. It invades our hearts through the Holy Spirit when we surrender our lives to Christ, and it continually invades our lagging, frozen, corrupted world by God’s power working through His people.
Our world suffers from fearfully polarized government and politics (frozen), A hyper-sexualized culture (corrupt), an unsure, slippery economic and financial situation (crash?) to name only a few things. Because of the resurrection, the Christian is enabled to live beyond fear. We know that this reality is not the final or ultimate reality. God’s Kingdom and New Creation are breaking into the old. Not even death itself should intimidate. So how about you? Do you live in faith beyond fear? Do you become frozen with dread when you watch the news, or do you realize that you are a part of God’s reboot? Which country are you truly a citizen of? Which reality? The resurrection changes our perception of reality and enables us to live joyfully no matter what happens. On that first Easter day, and every day since, all of creation is enabled and ennobled to shout out in one voice, even in the face of the worst of adversity: “It is a new day!”
Join us March 31st, Easter Sunday, 10:00 AM. Invite a friend.
God bless,
Mike.
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