Easter Devotion – Pastor Erick Thompson
Colossians 3:1-4
If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!
Oh, what joyous and blessed morn! We awake to find that our God is alive, our Christ is risen. Death cannot hold him, and death can no longer rule over us. On Easter Sunday we celebrate the good news that Jesus is risen. And, we celebrate that we have been raised with him. This good news should rule in our lives, but it’s not simply a momentary realization, but hopefully a life-changing experience. Notice how the verses in Colossians alternate between the proclamation of good news: “your life is hidden with Christ in God” and “Christ who is your life is revealed”, and the invitation to consider living a different way: “seek the things that are above” and “set your minds on things that are above”.
I don’t believe that the invitation to “set your mind on things that are above” is necessarily about morality, but more about the way life might feel if we did not worry so much about all the things we normally do. The point is that we are raised with Christ. When we read, “If you have been raised with Christ” the assumption in the text is that we have been raised with Christ. Easter is not only about Christ being raised, but that we are raised with him. Easter Sunday morning creates new space in our lives; a limitless area releasing us from our normal boundaries. Easter Sunday is meant to change our lives so that we begin to ask questions like: “If I wasn’t so worried about everything, how would life be different?” or “How would my life be different if I gave more of my time, talents, and treasures away?”
Jesus rising from the tomb destroys the power that sin and death have over us. Lent is a season when we spend some time examining how sin and death rule in our lives, and now, in Easter, we get to live God’s gift of new creation. Our lives are a new creation which are hidden in Christ, and which now burst forth in the Easter announcement. Not only is Christ risen, but we rise too; we rise from our self-imposed imprisonments to find new life, new creation in our very selves.
Celebrate this Easter resurrection! You are new creation! You have new life! You are God’s beloved creation that will never disappoint, never fail, never be separated from God’s love in Christ Jesus. Alleluia! Christ is risen, and you have risen too! Alleluia!!
Prayer: Loving God, we celebrate the risen Christ bursting forth from the tomb and into our lives. Remind us daily of this amazing grace in our lives, and help us to trust more fully in you, so that we might live in true freedom. Amen.
