Jesus is Alive!

The entire foundation of the Christian faith hinges on one event’s falsity or truth.

That a man died and then days later was raised back to life. Without this event, the story of the man from 2,000 years ago would have been forgotten in history.

What does it take for me to believe this happened?

I would have to believe the written declarations about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – the gospels – and the letters to the first-century churches are true accounts.

I would have to believe those words survived, and an unstoppable movement was sparked because of what those first witnesses saw. Jesus ate with them. They listened to his teachings and touched his wounded hands and side after he was declared dead. All after his body was prepared and then laid in a tomb for days.

Jesus is alive.

If that event is true, then I have every reason to believe the words he said, those that were recounted and written down for future believers, are also true.

He said he was a man, sent by God, admittedly his son, brought down to show us what God was truly like – sent ultimately to die. Die for the specific purpose of cleansing us to have eternal life and a forever relationship with his Father.

Now I’m a very logical and rational person with a deep trust in science and facts. All of my friends and family can attest to that. When it comes to believing what I hear second-hand, especially on social media or news outlets, I like to see evidence before I can trust its validity.

The message of the gospel goes against all logic and believability. If there is a God, and he did send his son into this broken world, why would he do what he did? Why would he spend his short life as a nobody – a carpenter from Nazareth? Then just a few short years of healing, teaching, and dying?

Why would it take a simple declaration and the small seed of questioning faith to receive the kind of gift he offers freely – no strings attached? It seems too good to be true.

After all I’ve done and will do, surely I don’t deserve to live forever – with the God that created the universe and everything in it. Surely God doesn’t want little ol’ me in his perfect kingdom, knowing him intimately as Father.

Paul, previously Saul of Tarsus and the harshest persecutor of the first Jesus followers, became a follower himself after a shocking encounter with the risen Savior. He wrote to a small church at Corinth, in modern-day Greece, after his conversion:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved… For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.”

1 Corinthians 1: 18-21

What we consider logical and wise in the world is not important in this matter. I invite you to look past your wisdom and logic and look to the person Jesus was. What he did. What he said. I invite you to submit yourself to the risen Savior of the world, invite him into your heart, and see what happens next.

Even if you don’t believe you are worthy of this gift or don’t understand it, I invite you to do it anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?

Many people today assume that Christianity is a religion, a moral system, a philosophy. In other words, they assume that Christianity is about advice. But it wasn’t and isn’t. Christianity is, simply, good news. It is the news that something has happened as a result of which the world is a different place.”

Tom Wright: Simply Good News

I can’t imagine our current world without the revolutionary movement that began with Jesus. From it came some of the most culturally shocking changes regarding the worth of each individual. It all started with the radical message of love from a seemingly inconsequential man everyone should have discarded – and would have – would it not have been for his death and resurrection.

Yes, our world and the people in it are still broken. Everything is not perfect. But because he first loved us, it will be. Regardless of what you believe in your heart right now, his plans will come to fruition, and there will be a day when everyone will proclaim Jesus as Lord. He has always been and always will be on the throne.

As I look past the worldly desires of my heart, past the know-it-all confidence of my logical brain, I realize what has been accomplished. I remember how big and all-encompassing his love is.

Jesus took on all of my mistakes and faults. He took every tiny, icky, big, and horrible transgression against God, my loved ones, and my enemies, and he took them to the cross. All my past and future blemishes are removed from God as far as the East is from the West. I am blameless and clean, perfect in his sight. I am never separated from his love.

Death and the grave have been conquered. All sin has been covered. I have absolutely nothing to fear.

Jesus is Risen!

What good news it is.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Philipians 4:4