The Rising: 7 Ways the Resurrection Changes EverythingSample

Day 3

The Resurrected Life

The Rising of Jesus was only the first rising of the Kingdom of God coming on earth as it is in heaven. The truth is, that since then, there have been billions of risings. “How?," you might say, "I’ve never seen one”. Well, actually, according to Scripture, the moment you put your faith in Jesus (which is putting your faith in the fact that He actually did rise from the dead), you experience a rising all of your own. 

Let me explain…

Spiritually speaking, sin doesn’t make you bad, it makes you dead. The good news of the Gospel isn’t that Jesus makes you good, it’s that He makes you ALIVE! How? Not by you trying hard or following all the rules perfectly. No, the Gospel brings life when you trust the central promise that Jesus died in your place to give you eternal life with Him.

That faith changes you. I mean think about it, dead people and living people don’t engage in the same activities. That would be weird. No, when you’ve been made alive in Jesus, you begin to live differently. As Paul writes here in Colossians, you put off old ways and put on new ways because you aren’t dead anymore, you’re alive. And yet so often, we find ourselves doing what we used to do and being where we used to be before our rising. We take naps in our old coffins.

But Jesus’ Rising calls us to wake up and live! One way we can begin is simply by doing what you’re doing right now. Meditating on the profound simplicity of the Gospel. If the Rising is just an event that you occasionally look back on, you’ll never find the power to walk it out. But when the Rising becomes so real that it’s not behind you, but in front of you, and inside of you, that’s where the power lies to really live! Look up! After all, we’re rising.

Has your faith in Jesus resulted in changes in your life? If so, what? As a new creation in Christ, What are some things you need to “put off’? What are some things you need to “put on”?