A 7-Day Easter Devotional From Integrity MusicShembull

"Praise The King”

(Based on the song "Praise The King" by Corey Voss)

There are so many things in life that just don’t make sense. I mean, why do we call it “Grape Nuts” when it’s made from neither grapes nor nuts? Why do we say we “slept like a baby” as a way of saying that we slept soundly when any parent of a baby knows that the phrase should actually be used to indicate that one woke up every few hours screaming?

Joking aside, the thing that perplexes us most is suffering. Why do good people suffer? And how can intelligent people rejoice in spite of it? It doesn’t make any sense.

The early Christians lived in a way that didn’t make sense to the world around them. The Roman pagans couldn’t figure out why Christians didn’t engage in sexual immorality, or drunkenness, when everyone around them did. Why did they rise up early and “sing hymns to Christ as if to a god,” as one Roman letter remarks? But most of all, why did they not fear death? Why wouldn’t they recant their beliefs, or pay homage to Caesar, or acknowledge other gods in order to save their lives? What religious duty would be worth dying for? Not only were Christians willingly going to their death for the sake of Christ, they would often sing hymns or pray loudly as death approached. It didn’t make sense.

But there was a reason: Jesus had risen! And because Jesus is risen, the early Christians knew it meant that Jesus was the true King of the world. And it also meant that death no longer had the final say. All in Christ would taste resurrection life.

And so for us today, there is a reason. “There’s a reason why we are not overtaken; there’s a reason why we sing on through the night; there’s a reason why our hope remains eternal.”

The British bishop and missionary Lesslie Newbigin once said, “I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist; Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This may not make sense at first—but it is the reason of all reasons. When your life is anchored in the reality of Christ’s resurrection, nothing can shake you. 

“Praise the King, He is risen; Praise the King, He’s alive.”  Click below for an Easter Chord Chart and MP3 bundle.

http://smarturl.it/EasterResourceBundle