I was contemplating the tomb of Jesus this week and had the thought in a conversation that I have so many dark tombs in my own life that need emptying. Have you thought about your own tombs lately? This holy week is such a good time to think about what is dead in our lives and what needs resurrecting.
My own tombs are places for me that cannot be revived with clever thoughts, sweet sentiments, others’ insights or even my very best rational and willful efforts to transform. They are dead, aching, rotting sources of sin—covered with shame and fear and degradation. They are all the longings in my heart that drive me deeper into self.
Without Easter, I am left with those dead and rotting places in my soul, left in the darkness and left with a veil that has never been torn between me and the Holy of Holies. Without Easter, I am left with only me and the resources I bring to this life. Facing that reality leaves me hopeless, for my resources are like ashes.
I am someone who has much joy, much happiness in my spirit, but I also have much fear. I hate the uncertainty of life, I want things to be controlled, I want safety. I literally ache for Eden and what was lost in it. I sometimes can be so consumed by this loss and the fears that bloom in my life because of it that I can hardly breathe. This feeling of loss of control can lead to a faithlessness that brings me to my knees in despair.
Then, as God has reminded every believer of His from the Old to the New Testament be they in forms of altars and signs and the Communion table—He begs us to remember Him. Remember Him. Remember His faithfulness, remember His power, remember His mercies and love, remember His cross, and especially, especially remember the empty tomb. The power to raise Jesus from the dead is the very power He uses to redeem our deadness.
So what tombs have you been keeping darkened these days? What in your spirit needs to be brought to life? If you have never chosen to surrender your life to Jesus, I pray that you will. For those of us already saved, what have you been holding back from Him that needs to be brought into the light and resurrected?
May the grave clothes and the stench of death we have been clinging to fall off this Easter season, and may the fragrance of our Living Lord, Jesus Christ, envelop us as He clothes us in His righteousness. The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.
My own tombs are places for me that cannot be revived with clever thoughts, sweet sentiments, others’ insights or even my very best rational and willful efforts to transform. They are dead, aching, rotting sources of sin—covered with shame and fear and degradation. They are all the longings in my heart that drive me deeper into self.
Without Easter, I am left with those dead and rotting places in my soul, left in the darkness and left with a veil that has never been torn between me and the Holy of Holies. Without Easter, I am left with only me and the resources I bring to this life. Facing that reality leaves me hopeless, for my resources are like ashes.
I am someone who has much joy, much happiness in my spirit, but I also have much fear. I hate the uncertainty of life, I want things to be controlled, I want safety. I literally ache for Eden and what was lost in it. I sometimes can be so consumed by this loss and the fears that bloom in my life because of it that I can hardly breathe. This feeling of loss of control can lead to a faithlessness that brings me to my knees in despair.
Then, as God has reminded every believer of His from the Old to the New Testament be they in forms of altars and signs and the Communion table—He begs us to remember Him. Remember Him. Remember His faithfulness, remember His power, remember His mercies and love, remember His cross, and especially, especially remember the empty tomb. The power to raise Jesus from the dead is the very power He uses to redeem our deadness.
So what tombs have you been keeping darkened these days? What in your spirit needs to be brought to life? If you have never chosen to surrender your life to Jesus, I pray that you will. For those of us already saved, what have you been holding back from Him that needs to be brought into the light and resurrected?
May the grave clothes and the stench of death we have been clinging to fall off this Easter season, and may the fragrance of our Living Lord, Jesus Christ, envelop us as He clothes us in His righteousness. The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.
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