How many times did you reply, "He is risen, indeed!" to the ever famous line, "He is risen!" today? I heard it, read it, 'liked' it, said it, shouted it, and sung it. It is the most well-known Easter catchphrase within the Christian worldview, I do believe.
What does it mean? You might be thinking, well, Karis, I believe the answer is obvious. The two statements are as crystal-clear as my windows after a jolly ol' week o' some healthy Spring Cleaning! In other words, its meaning is right there in black-and-white. Fair enough. "He is risen," means that... well... He is risen! That's true enough I'm not going to deny, but that's not exactly my point.
A much better question to ask oneself: What does it mean to you? Now, if this seems like a cliche kind of post, please don't leave. I've heard different sermons and testimonies and read different devotionals and such discussing this issue- and I'll admit it's common, but only because it's so important.
If you are a born-again Christian, you profess to believe that God exists, that He created the world, that He loves us, that He sent His Son Jesus, that Jesus died, and that Jesus rose again. Well, if Jesus was dead, and rose again... what does that make him now? Alive. We know that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Jesus is alive, and He is here, friends.
Don't take that statement for granted- just dwell a moment on the depth of its meaning. Imagine you are in church. The sermon is feeling a little drawn-out, your eyes are on the droopy side, and you're fingers are just itching to sketch a little doodle in your bulletin. You, who declare yourselves Christians are saying you believe God is Emmanuel; God is with us. Hmm.... God is with us. God is with you. 24/7, He's right beside you. As you read this, God is there near you, in you, and by you. He knows what you see, read, hear, think, say, and do.
Let's go back to the example scenario. Let's just imagine for a minute that Jesus was as visible to our finite eyes as the pastor at the pulpit. Let's imagine that you were fully conscious and aware that Jesus was sitting in the seat directly beside you. Do you think you would even be tempted to disengage from the service and distract yourself with simple doodlings and petty entertainers? I doubt it.
Here's another scenerio for you: Say you're at your computer, as you are now, and somehow you are directed to a sketchy looking page. Or perhaps you're flipping through crude and obnoxious pictures and sayings on a social network page. With every click of your mouse, you feel a pang of guilt and you know in your heart that filling your mind with these immoral, ungodly images is probably not God's will in your life.
Let's add a component to said scene: God in the flesh. Jesus, fully visible, is standing there behind you, observing everything you're doing on your electronic device. I should hope that the very idea of entertaining yourself with sinful things wouldn't even cross your mind! Maybe you wouldn't even be on your computer at all, as it can present itself as a very innocent-looking and hard-to-resist temptation.
Well, folks, it's time to break the news to our sinful selves. Those above situations are always in occurance. Now, don't act so surprised! You're the one who claims to live on the faith that "He is risen!" You're the one who professes to believe wholeheartedly in the perfect and loving God, who is ALIVE. And aren't you the one who dedicated your life to the Lord and is hopefully trying to surrender to His will?
That's me, for sure. I can agree to all those three classifications. But many of us, including myself, seem to forget the fact that He is Emmanuel. He is with us. He will never leave us, nor forsake us. We may think our secret sins go unnoticed, but we often forget that the One who we say we desire to serve is standing over us and hears every wicked thought, knows every evil scheme, sees our corrupt eyes hovering over corrupt content, and listens to every outburst of rage and hate. We are never alone.
Remember that guy, oh what was his name.... Jonah? Well though we may not go to his extremes, we can relate to him in the way that we try to escape God's presence when we are wallowing in the sin in our lives. Yeah, right. God is omnipresent.
It's easy to say that God is with you all the time, but I want to know to what extent we truly believe that He is. Obviously, we have some work to do. I tend to think that if we believed 100% that God was observing all our doings and that we are in his presence 24/7, our lives would be being lived out quite differently. I can think of a lot of things I wouldn't be doing, thinking, and saying. I can imagine our Christian character would be much more evident.
The fact that I'm saying all these things I would do differently attests to the fact that I am lazy. I am believe more and more everyday that God is with me and listening to me, personally. But shouldn't that knowledge be changing the way I go about life? What am I going to do about it? What are we going to do about it?
Isn't it an incredible thought that a Holy God would stay with these unclean, unholy, impure people without fail? My own loyalty is certainly not even worth comparing to the tiniest mite of His own. Today during communion, the man at the mic announced that we would have a minute of silent prayer. As I bowed my head and closed my eyes along with everybody else in the room, I couldn't help but feel in awe of a God that can talk to all the millions of people all around the world at the exact same time, on a personal account. There is none other who has the power to do that.
While I am doing my devotions and talking to Him on my own, He is listening 100% to me, paying full attention and guiding me through revelations of His Holy Spirit and giving me insight and wisdom. And at that moment, He is doing the same to the missionary in South America praying for the healing of his friend. And at that same moment, He is also listening and comforting the mother in Africa who mourns for her lost child. And still, He is among the people in the church who are praising and worshiping Him, praying to Him in their hearts. Doesn't that just give you chills? It suddenly makes the world seem a much smaller, closer place, especially in terms of believers. The thought that all of us, whether we know each other or not, or talking to the same person with hopefully the same intentions (which should reflect our heavenly leader's), that's nothing short of amazing!
Next time you get down on your knees to have a chat with your Maker, I want you to try to understand that He is THERE. He's not away up high, floating around in the universe and receiving your requests like text messages. He's actually there beside you with His arm around you, and He wants to talk to you like you talk to your best friends. After all, He does call you friend, and He's your perfect Dad.
When I knelt there not too long ago and tried to grasp the realization that the God who made the universe was there with ME in my ROOM in this tiny little town in this dark and dreary world, it brought me to tears. I could hardly speak I was so overcome with humility and awe. My God, the SAME God who sent His Son to die in my place is still Here, alive, and unchanged. And He's here to help me! Oh, he has never ceased to help me.
Oh, be careful little eyes what you see...
Oh, be careful little lips what you say...
Oh, be careful little feet where you go...
Oh. be careful little hands what you do...
Oh, be careful little ears what you hear...
For the FATHER up above (and right beside you)
is looking on in love, so be careful.
He is risen, you say? Let's see you act our that faith instead of just saying it.
