Why Are You Looking For Living Things Among Dead Things

There is nothing new under the sun. Everything we experience has been experienced by other people; the same struggles, victories and insights. The solutions are often obvious. We know what we need to do but we don't do it. It could be fear, laziness, or simply a lack of discipline that prevents us from getting there but it really just boils down to whether we want it bad enough. I am going to state something obvious now.

When the women went to the tomb to take care of Jesus' body they were confused when they found the tomb empty:

When they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, they went in. But they did not find the body of the Lord[a] Jesus, and they did not know what to think. (Luke 24:2-4a)

Who could blame them? Was the body stolen? Did the officials move him? What was up with this? Except we can blame them because they had already been told what had happened before it had happened. The angels reminded them:

“Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? Jesus isn’t here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, ’The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.’ “ (Luke 24:5-7)

The women were confused because they did not remember what Jesus had said. Now I am about to state that obvious thing that I said I would state by stretching this scripture a bit to cover us. Followers of Jesus today get confused because we don't remember what Jesus said. I told you it was obvious.

I don't know why we do it but it seems we are caught up in what everyone else has to say Jesus said instead of knowing what he said for ourselves. But it is more than just knowing. It is also trusting that what he said is the truth and doing it. The words of Jesus are useless statements unless we are going to live them.

Trying to follow Jesus without doing what he told us to do is just going to lead to a lot of confusion. Forgetting what Jesus said is going to leave us with a bunch of dead ends. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" There is more to those words than what you might realize. Reflect on them a bit and let the Spirit take you deeper.

Dead Yet Alive

Imagine ...

Imagine if we let God be God.

Imagine if we stopped trying to be managers of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine if we lost control.

Imagine if we voluntarily gave control to the Spirit in a great act of abdication.

Imagine ...

Should we imagine or should we just do it in the submissive desire to obey the one we claim to love:

I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. (Galatians 2:20)

I have died.

I have died.

The significance of that somehow gets lost in the translation of our desires. After all, if I have died then I have no desires because, well, I am dead. How can I have desires if I am dead?

Being dead and walking around would make us a bunch of zombies except for one great, tremendous, wonderful fact:

But Christ lives in me.

I have died but Christ now lives in me, which means that he is my desire.

What he wants, I want.

Where he goes, I go.

What he does, I do.

What he prays, I pray.

What he says, I say.

It is not me asking Jesus to join me on my journey. It is me dying, ending my chosen journey, and joining Jesus in his. I am alive but I am only alive in Jesus as he lives in me. He is my desire, my hope, my joy, my peace. I have no desire, hope, joy, peace outside of him.

So why do we try to live by the rules of this world when we belong to Jesus' Kingdom? What is it to me that I am rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, male or female, jew or greek, fat or skinny, tall or short? I will be what he wants me to be and I will do what he wants me to do, and I will have what he wants me to have. Nothing in this world can stress me because it has no root in me. I don't belong here.

I am dead.

But Jesus is alive in me.

And I am alive in Jesus.

And now I live by faith.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.

Passion!

I want more of you God.

God cannot be contained.

God cannot be controlled.

You are dead and your only act is to allow the uncontrollable God to have his way in you.

Let him set a fire down in your soul.

A fire you can't contain.

A fire you can't control.

After all, you are dead, but Jesus is alive in you.

Let our desire be to have more of him.

Let the passion burn deep.



Set A Fire - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gX-B6TtSk8