He is alive!
I remember being baptised, it was 1992 and my brother and I had decided to make a public testimony at our church in Harlow that we wanted to follow Jesus for ourselves and be all in.
I remember reading my bible to find out more about what it meant and the significance of the day, I found this verse:
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4
This verse really stood out for me and especially today on Easter Sunday it continues to stand as a reminder.
Firstly, Jesus is alive and has conquered death! That’s really no small thing. Death and its eternal sting has been defeated because of The Christ. We can live a new life because of this good news and the events we recall today. We especially remember what Jesus has done.
But, there’s more…C.S.Lewis words it like this:
Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else thrown in. (Mere Christianity, very last paragraph)
The Christ calls us to die too, not a popular message that one, but it’s true. The old way of life, the old man and his ways must die and then we are caught up in this great wonder of God being born again.
New life. That night in 1992 I was buried, symbolically in and under water like my Christ that Easter Friday. Then – up from the water and I was saying to everyone watching ‘I am a new man.’
Easter not only reminds me of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection – but also that I am a new man, I will strive to keep nothing back!
Image Credit: Ryan Loughlin
