A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Resurrection of Christ and how, along with sin, He also took with Him and vanquished our worries, anxieties, and fears on the Cross. And with this liberating knowledge of all that has been done on our behalf, even in the face of disappointment and the things out of our control, we are, nevertheless, called to always be abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58), and we can, with joy, because of what Christ did for us.
At the time, as is the way it usually works, I was writing that firstly for myself, to encourage myself in the Lord. I needed to remind myself of something that is so easy to forget amid life’s difficulties. It is easy to look at the challenges in life and feel almost absorbed by them, defeated rather than victorious. I know because that’s exactly how I felt even as I wrote the piece, if I’m honest. I knew what I was writing was true, but in the moment, it was difficult for me to resonate with it in my heart.
The week of Easter was one of the most difficult and transformative weeks I have had in quite some time. I can’t speak for others because it may not be true for you, but if I’m honest, in past years, I celebrated Easter and its significance on the day, and then after that, I slowly but surely forgot about the Resurrection and the freedom and power that come with it. In some ways, I was living as if Christ had not been on the Cross and made me a joint-heir (Romans 8:17). Of course, I remember what Christ has done and that I am redeemed, but remembering should not satisfy the believer. It should be written on our hearts in such a way that it is a daily truth that anchors and propels us.
This is the first year of my adult life that the gravity of it has taken root in me beyond Easter, and that I have really examined myself, examined whether I am truly living a resurrected life. I can tell you right now that the day after Easter, I did not feel like a sinner who was washed in the blood of Christ and resurrected with Christ. I was not feeling victorious or triumphant in any way, shape, or form, and Easter did not feel like it was only the day before. All the freedom and joy dissipated when I clocked into work. Honestly, before I clocked in at work. In came anxiety and fear about how to manage what I had been asked to do and everything that came with it. I was not hopeful I could figure it out and manage it, and I was right. It wasn’t for me to handle or figure out on my own, so after a full day of letting worst-case scenarios, frustration, and anxiety rule me, I told myself I needed to do things differently; this was not the abundant life that Christ died to give me.
In another moment of transparency, I have been inconsistent in my morning devotion. I was going to say that it was not for lack of trying, but I was not giving it my all. If you and I are daily anchoring ourselves in the truth of the finished work of Christ on the Cross, then there isn’t any room for trying. Because Christ did not try to die for us or try to overcome the world and sin, He just did, and so we must do more than try; we must give our all as well. So, the next day and every day that week, I made it my business to go to my secret place and have devotion before I left the house. I sang a hymn, read a Psalm, and had intentional prayer with the Lord; I laid down all the burdens that were on my heart, entrusted them to the Lord, and went to work.
The work week did not get any easier. In fact, it got more intense as the week continued and other things attempted to derail and discourage me, but my need to control and resolve it all by myself dissipated. The first issue I was worried about and prayed about on Tuesday morning was solved when I got the work. I felt peace amidst the proverbial storm, and I knew the difference was not me, but God, and that is what the Lord is able to do for all of us when we seek Him, His face and His counsel – when we remember, as the song says, the Cross where Jesus died.
There is a hymn I have returned to more than once in my time of morning devotion, “I Need Thee,” a hymn I’ve heard all my life with lyrics I have taken for granted for most of my life. I keep coming back to and resonating on the refrain: I need Thee, O I need Thee/ev’ry hour I need Thee/O bless me now, my Savior/I come to Thee.
We need God more than we realize, and however much we realize it, we need Him all the more. The revelation of our salvation and redemption through Christ and what we are afforded as a result — peace that surpasseth all understanding (Philippians 4:7), rest (Matthew 11:28-29), freedom (John 8:36) grace, mercy, joy, the Comforter (John 14:16), a spirit of love, power and sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), abundant life (John 10:10), eternal life (John 3:16) and so much more — are gifts, benefits bequeathed to we who pick up our cross and follow him (Matthew 16:24). They are not platitudes, but promises from the Living and Sovereign God.
There’s a phrase that is quite common now, “let your faith be bigger than your fear,” and you can substitute the word fear with any human emotion that gets in the way of us living or being obedient to God and the reason you can do that is because Christ vanquished those emotions – doubt, fear, anxiety, mistrust, shame, guilt, etc. on the Christ. I will deepen the phrase, if I may. Let Calvary eliminate your ________ (fill in the blank.)
I will leave you with the words of the hymn from today’s devotion:
Because He lives/I can face tomorrow!/Because He lives/All fear is gone./Because I know/He holds the future,/And life is worth the living/Just because He lives!
May we walk daily in the life-affirming victory achieved on the Cross and hold fast to our vault of God’s promises and all that He has delivered us from!
