Because He Lives!

Christ is alive in the world, but that is not enough. He must arise in our hearts!

Years ago, the director of Manchester College in Oxford published a series of lectures entitled “The Lost Radiance of the Christian Religion.” At the end, after mentioning our spiritual hopes once again, he wrote as his final sentence: “But the end of it all is a resurrection and not a burial, a festival and not a funeral.” Christ Himself says it even better when He explains in John 14:19, “Because I live, you will live also.”

The Christian religion has never been gloomy, joyless, or boring. Jesus repeatedly spoke of the Christian experience as the way of life—a joyful, exuberant life lived to the fullest. In Christ, we experience deep inner satisfaction even under the burden of sorrow, difficulties, or persecution.

Jesus spoke of resurrection and immortality. But His words can also be applied to our time. Because Christ lives, we, you and I, walk through life as Christians, as “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Since we believe in the Son of God, we have found the secret of abundant life. Now we live in abundance because we have “loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). We live from abundance because we are His disciples—keeping His commandments and willing to take up His cross. When we try to avoid the cross, our religion loses its radiant power. In our generation, Christianity has lost its luster because our tendency is to choose the easier path, the path of least effort, the path of least resistance.

The men who brought honor and glory to Christianity were cut from a different cloth. We are told how David Livingstone, after years of service and suffering in the jungles of Africa, once said goodbye to some friends on the coast who were returning to his homeland. He could have gone with them, and they urged him to do so. But he preferred to continue his work on the dark continent. He stood on the pier for a long time, watching the ship slowly disappear on the horizon. His friends on the ship asked each other, “Why does he insist on burying himself in that godforsaken place?”

There is only one answer to this question: Jesus Christ lived powerfully and brightly in the heart of David Livingstone. This undaunted missionary never lost his joy, enthusiasm, and devotion in obedience to his divine mission.

Why do people turn away from Christ, even though many see Him as the only hope for our hopeless world? Who or what can bridge the gap and avert hostility between nations except Christ and His spirit of love and forgiveness? Christ holds the solution to all of humanity’s ills in His hands, if only we would accept His way. If we did not so persistently push Him aside and so deliberately overlook Him, He could be “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) for all nations.

We must be filled with His spirit and shape all aspects of human life according to His mindset if we want to achieve joy and abundant life. Christ is alive in the world, but that is not enough. He must be alive in us. He must experience a resurrection in our hearts. When He can fill us completely with His Spirit, we will be able to successfully use the power of our Christian conscience against the evil in the world.

Paul once asked, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). The answer was: “Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25). Those who are dead in sins and transgressions can only be brought to spiritual life through Christ. How many repentant people with a guilty conscience need and seek such a resurrection today? Sinners seek forgiveness and a new life. The despondent seek open doors. Those who failed seek a new beginning. The mentally ill seek a measure of peace that has been denied them until now. Unstable, disappointed, lost people reach out for a firm foundation that will give them support and on which they can build a new life.

When Christ’s life becomes our life, we have found a companion who walks with us every hour of the day. In Him we have a guide who has already walked the path before us. His life in us strengthens us enough to bear the burdens of life and gives us abundant power to emerge victorious from all temptations, as well as much courage to cope with our worries and fears. With Him, hope is reborn in our hearts, and faith finds a firm hold on the promises that guarantee us abundance for life, for death, and for eternity.
Christ certainly lives today! He lives on Earth in the hearts and lives of His people. He lives in the church and its work. He lives in the highest and most valuable ideals of this world. He also lives in heaven and still promises today: “And where I am, there My servant will be also” (John 12:26).

The people in whom He lives become like Him. Several years ago, during a gathering at an English castle, one of England’s most famous actors was asked to recite something. An elderly pastor asked him to read Psalm 23. The actor agreed on the condition that the pastor would also recite it afterwards, to which the pastor hesitantly agreed.

The great artist began to read the psalm in a most impressive manner. He had a wonderful voice and knew how to use it to best effect. The audience listened breathlessly and broke into thunderous applause.
Then the pastor stood up and recited the psalm. His voice was already frail and his pronunciation not flawless. And when he had finished reading, there was no applause. But there was not a dry eye in the place, and many had bowed their heads.

After a long pause, the actor stood up, put his hand on the pastor’s shoulder, and said, “I reached your eyes and ears, my friends. He reached your hearts. That’s the difference: I know Psalm 23, but he knows the Shepherd!”

Do you know this loving Shepherd, the one who left the ninety-nine behind and went in search of the one lost sheep? Have you experienced the resurrection of life and hope through Him?