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We don’t pretend it never happened. We don’t stay there for long. We don’t give up because of it. As we experience godly sorrow in honest ownership of our sin, it should lead to rejoicing in Jesus. Rejoicing over His forgiving grace. Rejoicing over His transforming grace. Rejoicing over His empowering grace. Yes, we feel genuine regret over our sin because it breaks God’s heart and breaks our lives. But we quickly remember that the finished work of Jesus makes it possible for us to finish well in our fight against sin. It’s not that the standard has been lowered for us; it’s that the standard has been met for us.

Don’t waste it. Don’t misuse it. Don’t underestimate it. God has graciously given you a life that is rich with meaning and purpose in this world, at this time, for His kingdom. Your home life, work life and play life are all a part of His divine plan to make a difference in the lives of the people He has connected you with and entrusted you with. You were made to shine His light! The ordinary things of your everyday routine can be done in a way that counts forever. Today, prayerfully consider what steps of faith He wants you to take in living and loving like Jesus, remembering this: He can do great things through you.

God has committed Himself to the long-term transformation of making us more like Jesus. He is acting as both demolition crew and construction crew in us, tearing down those things that don’t belong and building us up in ways that better mirror His image. He will not stop until the good work in us is done, loving us just as we are, but never content to leave us that way. We are His beloved unfinished masterpieces, treasured works-in-progress that are always under the skilled brush of God Who graciously and patiently adds His loving strokes to who we are so we can become who we were made to be.

Every single day we are forced to choose sides. We will either serve Jesus or something else. We will either prefer Jesus or something else. We will either trust Jesus or something else. The enemy of our souls wants us to look away from Jesus, look at substitutes for Jesus, and look for life apart from Jesus. So, he calls out to us over and over again… Look. Over. Here. He offers distractions to divide our attention and divide our loyalty so he can divide and conquer us. Therefore, let us pray every day that God would get our focus where it needs to be so we look past the distractions to Jesus for help on how best to live.

Jesus did it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus conquered it all. We couldn’t live up to God’s standards, so Jesus lived perfectly for us. We couldn’t break free from sin, so He set us free. We couldn’t atone for our transgressions, so Jesus died in our place. We couldn’t defeat death, so He conquered the grave so we too will rise. We couldn’t earn an eternal retirement, so He paid for our inheritance. We have become rich in salvation, forgiveness, joy, peace, glory, kindness, favor, righteousness, love and hope because of what He accomplished on our behalf. Every good thing that is ours displays the good news of Jesus.

Do you believe that Jesus is alive? Then don’t live as if He’s still dead. Don’t live as if you are left to your own wisdom, strength and resources to navigate through life. Don’t live as if this world and its stuff is all there is, and you can’t be happy unless you have more of it. Don’t live as if your life has no real meaning and purpose, and how you spend your time doesn’t really matter. Don’t live as if you are a victim of temptation and sin, powerless to stand up to it and resist it and defeat it. Don’t live as if life is out of control, and you have just cause to worry and fear and dread. If you believe He’s alive, live like He’s alive!

He Is Risen! We can rejoice and worship for the empty tomb changes everything. Because the Lamb of God was slain, rose again and the tomb is now empty, we can be forgiven and free forever. If you are trusting Him, you are a new person with a new eternity in your future, and new potential, new purpose, new power, new pleasure in Him for everyday life even now. All because He lives! This is our hope: Jesus has overcome the world, is with us as we live in the world, provides all that we need in this world, and promises to come back to deliver us from this world. Rejoice! Our lives are full because the tomb is empty.

Wait it out. Wait and see. Wait upon the Lord. Things will break our hearts and leave us in stunned silence. But our God is sovereign, and though the sinfulness of people, the brokenness of this world and the maliciousness of Satan all rise up to seemingly stop God’s work, He makes them bow down and serve His purposes. Struggles, suffering, sin and Satan will be defeated! Every foe we will ever face will be overturned, overthrown and overcome because Jesus is putting and will put every enemy under His foot in final and forever victory. Until then, we wait. But we wait in real hope of better things.

Confusion. Shock. Fear. Uncertainty. Heartbreak. Silence. When they laid the breathless, lifeless body of Jesus in the tomb, it must have seemed like their own breath and life had been drained from them. Jesus. Was. Dead. And when the stone was rolled into place, it must have looked like their hopes and fate were sealed inside with the One they had pinned their hopes on and trusted their fate to. They didn’t see it coming and wished they hadn’t seen it at all. They laid Jesus there. But He would not lie there for long. They thought it was the end. But it was just the beginning. It was finished. But it was not over.

The gruesomeness of what Jesus went through should grip us. This was going to be an ugly, horrific scene that should rightly furrow our brows, sicken our stomachs, and stab our hearts because it was our sin that caused this sacrifice to be needed. The graciousness of what Jesus went through should also grip us. This was going to be a beautiful, wonderful act of love that should make our eyes dance, make our faces smile, and make our hearts leap with joy because He was willing to do this for us. Hallelujah! No one goes to heaven except through Him. And no one would go through Him unless He went to the cross.