Our lives are marked by the aggressive pursuit of comfort. Pain feels like a lack of God’s presence. When we feel pain and discomfort, we seek relief anywhere we can find it – even if it is apart from the Lord and His promises. Every moment of discomfort is an opportunity to trust that Jesus has made a way for you through the glory of the cross.
We often believe that God’s guidance leads to easy street. Every detour is a departure from God’s purpose and plan. No matter where you are, take heart, because Jesus walked the hardest road to bring us salvation and never leads us into places He hasn’t been. Remember, God’s plan is not to keep you from hardship, but He will get you through it.
In John 16, Jesus said to His disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.” It is almost certain that the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant. Even today, it is hard for us to understand the truth that the Spirit of Jesus IN us is better than Jesus WITH us. How does your I Witness story of the risen Jesus demonstrate the truth that, “the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you?” (Romans 8:11)
Let’s face it, the disciples weren’t exactly the cream of the crop. They weren’t the best of the best. If it were not for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, history would have long forgotten that these people ever existed. Spending three years living with and being taught by Jesus did not turn them into powerful evangelists and proclaimers of the Gospel. It was and is only the Resurrection of Jesus that could take this ragtag band of misfits and transform them into the leaders of the Church which the gates of hell cannot prevail against. How might your I Witness story demonstrate the power of The Resurrection to bring strength out of weakness?
Some things are just too good to be true. Sometimes our head and our heart cannot process what we’re experiencing. The risen Jesus was standing before His disciples, wounds and all, and “they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling.” Faith is never something we figure out. In Luke 16:31 Jesus said, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” For us and the disciples, faith is not something we do for ourselves, but it is the work of God, by the risen Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. How does your own I Witness story testify to this truth?
There are many things that we can live without. One of the few things that we cannot live with is purpose. At different times in our lives we will be asking, “What is my purpose?” When Jesus died, the disciples assumed their purpose died with Him. Through His resurrection, Jesus revealed and commissioned the disciples into their true purpose – to make disciples. How might your I Witness story with the risen Jesus also reveal your true purpose – to make disciples?
When you take a trip down memory lane, do you enjoy the journey or is it too painful? That first Easter Sunday, two followers of Jesus were walking a painful 7-mile journey that they thought had no hope. It was not until they arrived at Emmaus that they recognized that Jesus was walking with them the whole time. They returned to Jerusalem by the same memory lane road they assumed was hopeless, but this time with a resurrection perspective. How might your I Witness encounter with Jesus transform not only your perspective of the future but also your past?
We all have those moments in our lives that we would prefer to forget. Perhaps there is a moment in your life that you believe is beyond the redemption of Jesus Christ. For Peter, his moment was around a charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest’s home. This was the place where Peter, the rock, would crumble. This is the place where Peter, the bold confessor, would deny he even knew Jesus. On the banks of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sets up a charcoal fire, the reminder of Peter’s greatest shame, and transforms Peter’s rejection into restoration. How might your I Witness story of Jesus also demonstrate that no scar or shame is too deep for Jesus to heal?
Have you ever been crippled by fear and despair? There are times in our life when the hurt is so severe that we become blind. Just imagine the depth of Mary’s pain that seeing two angels was not enough to set her free. In His resurrection, Jesus not only comes to Mary, but He says her name. In saying her name, Jesus assures her that He sees her and that He understands her pain. In the Old Testament, Hagar gave God the special name El-Roi which means the God who sees me (Genesis 16:13-14). How might your I Witness story of the resurrected Jesus testify to the God who sees and looks after you?
Jesus Christ is the same today as He was the day He rose from the dead. This gives us confidence, hope, and salvation for life. Christ is Risen! This is the cry of Easter. It is the joyous reply, the joyous news spoken of centuries earlier by Job in his classic words, “I know that my redeemer lives.” It is the cry of hope to women who went looking for the living amongst the dead. They are the words of shock and hope to the disciples who thought they had lost forever their rabbi, their friend, their Lord. They are the words of shock to the guards and religious leaders and Pilate. But to us these words are our hope, our confidence, and our salvation. Because Jesus died and rose again, we are saved! Because Jesus died and rose again we can be confident in our standing with God, but also we can be confident of our future. What can man do to me? He can take my life, my money, my stuff, my job, anything, but that does not and cannot change my future. Why? Because Christ is risen. But that is also why Jesus is our hope. He has defeated sin, death, and the devil once and for all. And to remind us that this is not a one and done event, the author of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This is the God who loves us. This is the God who gave his life for us. This is the God who is risen from the dead. He’s the same now as He was then, and that is a good thing.