PHILIPPIANS 3:10 – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

THEME OF THE DAY. MORALITY or CHRISTIANITY? Let’s begin today’s nugget abruptly with two questions, “How often do we think on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus?” and “What difference does Jesus being raised from the dead make in our daily lives?” These are important questions. Our professed faith rests on the historical and historic fact of Jesus’ resurrection. Take it away and listen to what the Apostle Paul says of us, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:14-19). Take away Christ’s resurrection and we are still in our sins, deceived, and telling the world a lie. But that isn’t us, is it? Christ indeed is risen. We are forgiven. We are not deceived. These are truths of objective truth found in God’s declaration of being justified before Him. Again from the Apostle Paul, “But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:23-25). The resurrection of our Lord Jesus affirms our justification or being declared right before God. However, and this is big, if we only keep the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the closet of thinking concerning justification, then we are neglecting the application God intends for us by raising His Son from the dead. Friends, the resurrection of Jesus is the key truth of living the Christian life. It is practical and to be applied daily and throughout each day we live.

If we live life with rarely a thought on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and neglect applying it in our daily lives as Christians, then our professed faith is really living out a morally good life and not Biblical Christianity. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a doctrine believed and a power to be lived. The Apostle Paul’s testimony was ‘that I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection’. Neglect meditation and application of Christ’s resurrection and we are neglecting the life and power of the Christian life. By the resurrection of Jesus we walk with a living God; we are given the power to defeat sin; we don’t despair over the state of the world; we live with confidence toward the future; we are aware of Judgment Day before Christ, and we enjoy the Christian life as God intended.

So, is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus making a difference in our lives? Is it taking us beyond an event in history to a daily reality of His presence and power in our lives? Remember, our Christianity will always produce a good moral life, but Christianity is not a good moral life. It is the life of Christ in us, the resurrected Christ in us, enabling us to overcome sin, self, and Satan through a close, real, and deepening relationship with Him who really did rise from the dead.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to focus daily and throughout the day on the resurrection of Your Son for it is my everything.”

QUOTE: “If we neglect daily living out the resurrection of Christ, our faith is moral conduct not Biblical Christianity”