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Every year at Easter, Christians refocus on the cornerstone of our faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, it’s easy to forget the significance of the resurrection as we celebrate with baskets, eggs, and bunnies. And it’s especially hard to live in the hope of his resurrection throughout the year as life brings inevitable challenges.

Whether you’re preparing for Easter, or just preparing your heart for the day, it’s helpful to recall that Jesus didn’t just come to earth only to die and rise again. He came so that we could live our lives fully with Him each day...resurrected.

In John 11, Jesus came to see his friends Mary and Martha because their brother Lazarus had died. The story ends happily, with the physical resurrection of Lazarus, but before commanding his friend to “Come out!” of the tomb (John 11:43 CSB), Jesus has a conversation with Martha.  He tells her that her brother will live.

Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

He wasn’t talking about his future resurrection or Lazarus’ future resurrection at the end of time. Jesus wanted Martha, and all of us, to understand that when we place our lives in His hands, He will raise them up again to live a fulfilled life in the present.

Our sin causes us to die spiritually because it separates us from a real relationship with God. We can lose all hope in ever having the life we were called to live. Jesus wants us to live a resurrected life, now.

Let’s look at 5 reasons the resurrection is important for the life you’re living right now:

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We all know about bad habits, and every year around this time, people commit to kicking them to the curb. New Year’s resolutions often center around those harmful practices that are hard to give up. In order to be successful, you not only have to change behaviors but thoughts and attitudes too.

What comes to mind when you think about Memorial Day? If we’re being honest, for many of us, it's just about getting a day off.

Your resolutions should aim to increase the spiritual blood flow to the main organs of your spiritual life in Christ. What are they? From three places in Scripture, consider what a godly resolution must include:

They top our trees, adorn our yards, and may even stand proudly in your local department store. But the Bible has a lot to say about angels, and not just in the Christmas story. Who are these angelic beings, what do they do, and why are they so closely connected to the story of Christ's birth? 

You've probably heard it on the radio, and probably by quite a few different singers. You've also probably heard some of the criticism of the song "Mary Did You Know," as folks love to point out that yes, Mary did actually know. But despite all that, the song is still rich with Biblical truths and reminders for modern-day listeners about the power and majesty of Christ, even as a small baby. 

Here are five ways pastors can encourage the laity in their labor.

What Is Christmas and When Did it Start?

Christmas is the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth, held on December 25 in the Western Church. The traditional date of December 25 goes back as far as A.D. 273. Two pagan festivals honoring the sun were also celebrated on that day and it is possible that December 25 was chosen to counteract the influence of paganism. To this day some people feel uncomfortable with Christmas because they think it is somehow tainted by the pagan festivals held on that day. But Christians have long believed that the gospel not only transcends culture, it also transforms it. In A.D. 320 one theologian answered this criticism by noting, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”

This content was adapted from "Christmas Eve" by Dan Graves.

Photo credit: Unsplash/AaronBurden