As we dream as a church about the direction that God wants us to go, I’m overwhelmed with the thought of resurrection power. The Apostle Paul said that he wanted to know the power of the resurrection that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. We should too.

I want to live a life like Stephen Baldwin describes in his recent book, Unusual Suspects. Baldwin said that he wakes up each morning with a literal smile on his face because he is so giddy about life and God and what God has called him to do with his life.

If we have attitudes that are affected by our circumstances, we will never live that way. We will be joyful when things are good and depressed when they’re not.

What if each day, we asked God for his perspective as we lived out our daily lives. Wouldn’t things be more beautiful? The morning would be a welcome sight…crying babies would always be a blessing…our marriages would be about serving our spouses and not ourselves…struggles would not appear to be insurmountable…the poor would be attractive…our “things” wouldn’t be quite so shiny. Wouldn’t that be different?

If we realized how Christ’s resurrection changed everything, then we would have this perspective. Jesus overcame the world (John 16:33) so we can live with this perspective if we follow him.

God, please grant me your eyes, so that I may consistently live out of a place that is not bogged down with the temporary concerns of my life. Help me to learn to apply all of your life-altering resurrection to my own existence.

Peace,

Neil