Living A Resurrected Life

April 28, 2022 Cyndi

With so many things going on around us, it is easy to forget to live daily in Christ. Our day-to-day chores draw all energy out of us. The demands put on us at home or at work are intimidating. We use all our physical and mental energy to go through the day. It exhausts us completely. These things can easily lead us to focus on our earthly lives instead of focusing on our eternal lives.

Our emotional state of being can also completely drain all energy out of us. Mistakes of the past or the current day can overwhelm us. Our minds can bombard us with our failures and deficiencies. And we can find ourselves in undesirable circumstances, draining our minds, bodies, and spirits daily.

God knows what we are going through, and He cares deeply. However, this does not mean we should focus only on our daily activities or the way we feel. No. To focus on eternity, God wants us to change our mindset about everything. He wants us to focus on Christ and getting to know God more and more. He wants us to spend time with Him. Doing that will cause worldliness in our lives to fade.

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2 (NKJV).

Resurrection: New Life

The basis of the word resurrection is the Greek word Anastasis, meaning a raising up or rising. In the verb form, it means to cause to stand or rise; to raise from sleep or from the dead. Interestingly, the primary definition according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: ‘the rising of Christ from the dead’. And that indeed is the resurrection we are looking at.

The message of Jesus’ resurrection is that God has conquered the evil authorities and canceled their will to enforce their power over the world. Jesus died and came back to life after death. He rose in new life.

God did not ordain all of this just for Jesus to live a new life. No. He did that to give us new life, a life more abundantly.

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10b (NKJV).

What is a resurrected life?

Living a resurrected life is not about going to Heaven after death, though we have hope for eternal life after death. The gospel message is not about us; it’s about bearing God’s raised life to the world in need of kindness and goodness and restoration to what God intends it to be. Living how Jesus lived requires deliberate living based on the Word of God.

Living a resurrected life also points to ourselves, not only to our service to others. We should look at ourselves with a resurrected vision, see ourselves the way God sees us, and then walk in it. Because of the resurrection, we have something amazing to look forward to in the future, and something worthwhile to live for in the present. Our rebirth as Christians transformed our entire identity.

Living a resurrected life means we keep moving forward in our walk with Jesus without looking back at that tomb we left behind.

How to live a resurrected life

Jesus wasn’t beaten, humiliated, and nailed to the Cross just so that we could hobble along in life in the shadows of strongholds that hold us in bondage day after day, year after year. No, Jesus excruciatingly gave His life so that our resurrected life would begin now with His resurrected life.

For us to experience Jesus’ resurrected life now, we should abide in Him daily. Remaining in Christ is the answer to living a resurrected life here on Earth. We cannot do it by ourselves.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5 (NLT).

Abiding in Jesus means dwelling with Him in every area of our lives and on every issue. It means remaining in His presence and not looking to the left or the right, but instead looking at the One who gave us a resurrected life and enables us to live that life out fully.

Living a resurrected life now is our primary calling on this earth: to bear much fruit for the glory of God’s kingdom. We can only get this by intentionally abiding in God’s love, His Word, and His promises.

How do we do that practically?

Living a resurrected life in Christ is to remain close to Him. Through studying His Word, we get to know him better; He gets to know us better, and our relationship deepens day by day. When we know God’s word ourselves, we will live in it and apply it to our daily lives.

This is a conscious commitment; we must put effort into it. Yes, the Holy Spirit will help us, but we should first want to live the resurrection life and then accept the Holy Spirit’s help to do it. The Holy Spirit does nothing without our agreement.

There are simple things we can do to build a victorious life in Christ:

Bible reading (even if we think we don’t have the time).
Memorizing bible verses (instead of memorizing our mistakes and failures).
Praying (even if we don’t feel like doing it).
Worshipping (during church services, at home, or on the way, whether we are happy or not).
Listening to Christian music (purposefully or in the background).
Reminding ourselves of who we are in Christ (instead of believing the lies of the enemy).
Deliberately keeping our minds on track (by not allowing our thoughts to drift off).
Serving others (instead of concentrating on our own benefits first).

Benefits of living a resurrected life

The resurrected life is one of restoration, transformation, and elevation. If we abide in the Lord, we will experience peace and happiness through a personal relationship with Him. When we stay in Him, we will automatically live in Him. We will be in a place of protection where we can rest, trust, lean, and rely on Him and His promises.

God’s Word reveals great promises to those who learn to abide in Jesus:

Peace & happiness (John 14:27 & Psalm 126:2).
Increased confidence (Philippians 4:13).
Personal relationship with God (John 14:6 & 2 Corinthians 5:19 & James 4:8a).
The Holy Spirit as our helper and companion (John 14:16-17).
Victory over sin (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Inheriting the virtues of Christ (Galatians 5:22-23).
Transformation into Christ’s image (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Eternal life (John 10:28-30).
Strength (Isaiah 41:10).
Fruit-Bearing (John 15:4-5).

Take-away

Jesus paid the ultimate price for us to live a victorious life while here on Earth and, afterward, peaceful eternal life in Heaven. As a sign of our gratefulness, we can let our lives reflect how thankful we are for what Christ has done for us on the cross. This, in return, will bless us with the promises of God when we abide in Christ, benefitting our daily wellbeing. Living the resurrection life glorifies God and improves our state of being.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Who else should we look at when we want to live a resurrection life? We can believe in Him, study Him, follow Him, and live like Him. Doing so will cause us to live a fulfilling, resurrected life while here on Earth.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26 (NKJV).

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