Life After Easter
What does life after Easter look like for you? What could it look like?
As an adult, Easter’s become my favorite holiday. As many of my loved ones have passed away, I absolutely love the hope and promise of heaven that Easter gives to every believer.
Because Jesus lives – and that is what Easter is all about – I don’t have to fear the future. I don’t have to fear death. That is something utterly huge to celebrate.
For today’s Christian church, so much time, energy and thought is spent in the build-up to Easter Sunday. We contemplate Christ’s sacrifice on Good Friday. We celebrate that He is risen – He is risen indeed! – on Easter Sunday.
But once we hit today – the day after the celebration – what’s left? Does everything go back to normal? Do we go back to living our regular everyday lives?
The temptation is there. And it’s real. We could completely go back to our safe everyday routines and just look at this past weekend as a spiritual highlight of the year.
Or we could let Easter transform our lives.
The disciples’ decision
Think for a moment about Jesus’ disciples and the hundreds of people who saw Him after He rose from the dead. What if they went back to their normal lives after they knew He was alive?
I’m pretty confident the Christian church would be dead today.
But knowing that Christ was living transformed their lives. It gave them purpose and passion to share the Good News with others.
The same should be true of us. If you know Christ is living and if you know that you trust Him as your very own Savior, then you should live it out. Tell others. Invest in the lives of others. Let Christ’s love that so transforms you begin to transform others, as well.
Wake up, sleepyhead!
Sometimes, though, it can feel like we’re sleepwalking through our life – and our faith. The monotony of everyday life can trick us into a life spent going through the motions.
I’d like to please politely but firmly ask us all to STOP. Wake up. Realize that each day is a gift – and each day can be used by God and for God.
Each and every day we impact more people than we realize. We need to start being intentional in our relationships and the way we act and interact with others (from strangers to our most intimate relationships). We can intentionally grow closer to the Lord.
Whatever we need to do to wake up and truly start living and investing, we need to do it. Today’s the perfect day to think about what needs to be done – and the perfect day to start making changes. Figure out what’s holding you back and release it to the Lord. Ask for His help in changing your life.
Think about how you’d like to change – and start changing. Don’t wait until another time. Start today while the miracle and gift of Christ’s death and resurrection is still fresh in your mind.
Learning – or relearning – basic spiritual disciplines
As you’re changing for the better, you can’t help but pass the passion along to others. In all of this, you’ll need to stick close to the Lord through prayer and His Word.
To help encourage you to do just that, here are some basic spiritual disciplines:
- Carving Out Time to Spend with God
- Getting the Most Out of Reading the Bible
- How to Study the Bible
- Memorizing Scripture? Here are 3 Helpful Ways to Do It
- Learning to Pray Throughout Your Day
- Dealing with the Hard Business of Repentance
I’m not in any way saying it’s the one and only right way to do it, but giving you a practical example that will hopefully help.
We don’t have to live like Easter’s just an annual holiday. We can let the truth of the day affect us the rest of the year.
With intention, we can truly make the most of life after Easter.
What ways do you let the truth of Easter affect your life after Easter?
All images courtesy of Unsplash and Pixabay.
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As always a good thought provoking article. These several weeks of semi-isolation has caused me to consider my “days.” May I be bold enough to make the changes in n my day that are needed.