Matthew 28:6
"He is not here.....For He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
I love this verse...
Talk about some words that would mess up your thoughts! Imagine going to the cemetery to lay flowers on the grave of a loved one. You walk through the rows of tombstones, yet you notice a couple of men near the grave of the one you've come to honor. You approach the two gentlemen, yet you notice that something seems amiss with the grave. It's been opened.....A huge hole.
Anger rises up in you as the thought of someone having desecrated this grave. "Who would do such a thing?" Thoughts of law suits....notifying the police....and "someone is going to pay for this!", flood your mind. But before you can even begin asking questions of the the two men who are at the grave, one of them looks at you and says..."Don't be upset....your loved one isn't here. They have risen."
To us, this is way beyond reality. The thought of a loved one coming back to life. But when we read the Matthew account, we know (In our spirit, if not our mind) that this is exactly what Jesus did. Yep! He told his disciples and followers that this was going to happen. They heard but they didn't hear. The words fell upon their ears, but it never made it to their hearts. I don't want to live my life like that. Having the words of Christ simply filling my ears....I want His words to penetrate my heart. To go down to the very core of my being. Shake me out of my every day beliefs and thoughts, and elevate me to the place of impossible, because it is here where my Jesus resides.
To be honest with you, that which the world says is impossible is highly probable when it comes to my Jesus.
How many people have I come in contact with over the years, who deemed themselves and the life they were living as impossible to change. In other words, they had fallen prey to the False Belief that they were hopeless...they were what they were...they would never change because the power and pull of addiction was beyond any effort they could make.
But then something happened...
It might have been at a Bible study, or a recovery meeting...the place doesn't matter. What does matter is that they had an encounter...a run in with this Jesus I am in love with. He touched them and every argument....every excuse...every dark thought simply melted away. They were opened to the truth that "With God, all things are possible." This encounter with Jesus opened the door to a new path that would lead to life they never imagined could be theirs.
To me, the verse from Matthew 28 is a "Ta-Da!" verse. Jesus simply showing everyone that He could not be imprisoned by the rules and dictates of this world. His rule is above any the world tries to operate by. His rule contains the truth and power needed to break free from sin and the debt every human on this planet owes. He paid the price so that addiction would not win. He paid the price so that sin would not be victorious. Oh yeah...one last thing. His tomb is still empty because my Jesus is alive. How cool is that?
God on you...
mbb
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