Skip to main content

Easter

When I was a teenager, I had a friend who was kind of hyperactive; so we're driving one night, when he decided to roll down his window and yell at the top of his lungs. The only thing was, he didn't know there was a car next to us. Inside it was a young guy with some friends. Either the young guy thought my friend was actually yelling at him, or he wanted to impress his friends. At the next stop sign, he pulled in front of my car to stop us, got out, and began punching my friend in the face. You'd think I would have put the car in reverse, rolled up the window, or something, but I didn't. I was shocked by what was happening. After hitting him a few times, he finally gets in his car and speeds off, with my friend bleeding and swollen. After all of this, though, my friend said something I still remember: he said "God loves you."

When I think about the purpose of the resurrection, I think about my friend; and how he turned something so horrible into an act of forgiveness. To me, that's the meaning of the resurrection. It's a resurrection not only of Jesus, but of us, too. Christ's resurrection not only restored us to right relationship with God, but gave us the only avenue to right relationship with each other. It’s about a God who took something so horrible– our darkness– and turned it into this amazing act of forgiveness.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Savior

This wasteland cold and dark runs free Its fearful creatures speak to me One fateful day one nudged my hand To set my eyes upon a tree He knew I could not understand For I was in his native land His signs became our common speech To lead me through the deadly sand Now stuck I saw him me beseech He could not lift me out to reach The firm foundation of a cave Outside the boundaries of this beach Withal, the beast became more brave To risk his own my life to save To carry me, its life it gave To carry me, its life it gave. This poem was inspired by Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." That poem, like this one, has four four-line stanzas of eight syllables per stanza. Its rhyme scheme is AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD.
Post a Comment
Read more

Soul and Spirit

As a friend told me about a conversation she had with one of our pastors about whether animals go to heaven, she told me about the Hebrew word nephesh ("soul"). I wondered, then, what the difference was between soul and spirit. After a little research, I came across what many seem to agree is a main difference. The soul of a person is that person's being--personality and life--while the spirit is that part of us that connects with God. There are several verses that refer to spirit in this way:* "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:1) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Evil, According to Republicans and Democrats

Please note that the following thoughts are only my observations. Please consider the evidence you see in the behavior of both parties for yourself. In our politically polarized climate, I was thinking about how Democrats and Republicans are different, and where those differences come from. Democrats seem to place more hope in institutions, and seek to reform those institutions when there is something wrong in society. Hence, there is more willingness to levy taxes to offer more social services as a support to those with less than others. They see the state as a way to equalize society. Thus, evil, to Democrats, seems to be a social issue: if there is a problem in society--poverty, racism, climate change, etc.--it is a problem with the structure of society and must be addressed as such: repair the system, and you will solve the problem. They are generally accepting of a larger state bureaucracy because they believe that increased accountability within a state structure will prevent evi...
Post a Comment
Read more