APRIL 3, 2025 ~ FROM A PASTOR'S HEART

APRIL 3 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PSALM 36

We are alive because He is alive! This past Sunday my four-year-old granddaughter came running out to my wife from her preschool class and said with great excitement, "Nana, Jesus is alive!" Oh, that we would declare that truth with such excitement and with the faith of a child. To her there was no doubt...there was just the declaration of truth. The fact that Jesus is alive changes everything, especially we who have put our trust in Him as Savior. He did not just bandage up our wounds of sin...He didn't just put some medicine on them to make them feel better...He healed us completely from the one thing that brought us death...our sin. We were dead in our sin; but because of the Resurrection we are now alive in Christ. We are called to live daily in that Resurrection power.

The Bible says that those who have trusted in the Risen Lord are, "new creatures in Christ.” Because we are alive in Him, He has now changed us completely into what we were created to be. Apart from Christ’s life in us, we could never live the life that God intends us to live. Too many believe that a Christian is merely someone who tries their best to do what Jesus did... who tries to be good...who tries to keep God's rules and therefore makes God happy. It is impossible for we humans to do what Jesus did...to do good...or keep God's rules. It is the life of Christ in us that makes all things possible. Being a Christian is not doing "Christian things," it is being surrendered to the Holy Spirit as a new creation in Christ. Jesus did not just fix us in His Resurrection...He gave us life in Himself!

Please share your thoughts.