For the Christian, Easter is never over. It is not simply one day out of the year, or one season out of the Christian year, but it is celebrated weekly on Sunday - the Day of the Risen Lord. Christians are Easter people who seek to understand life in light of the new reality of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. We say we "believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." But what does it mean to live the resurrection? How does belief in our future resurrection to glory intersect with our present bodily sufferings? Paul gives three ways to "live the resurrection," that is, to live beyond the tomb, viewing all life in light of Jesus' resurrection and its significance for us and the world. These ways are summarized in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.
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2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. »more
[Mp3]
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. »more
The great masters of prayer have compared the spiritual
life to an ocean. On the surface life may be roiled by wind and tides. Yet
beneath the surface, even amid a stormy sea, the water is calm. Deep contentment and inner peace are anchored in these depths - the truth behind, "Be still, and know that I am God."
Many view ministers as nothing but effeminate and incompetent individuals, sniveling wimps who are unable to hold down a "real job." But according to Paul, ministers are action heroes. Paul offers three examples of faithful ministry: A faithful minister must be like a single-minded soldier, a self-disciplined and law-abiding athlete, and a hard-working farmer. 
One natural reaction to the rising waters and crashing waves of affliction is fear. When storms suddenly arise in our lives, we all too quickly assume, like the disciples, that God must not care for us. If God did, we assume, there wouldn't be a storm in the first place. We cry out to God, "Don't you care?" We forget who is in the boat with us.
Jesus' will and determination to reach out and touch us in all our uncleanness is clear: "I do so will!" Jesus does this at great cost to himself - a cost that climaxes in the cross. We never have to second guess the breadth and width of God's compassion. It is greater than we can fathom and reaches out beyond the boundaries we often set.
The first word of the gospel is joy: "Behold, I bring you good news of great joy for all people!" But, how can we rejoice during tough times? When the economy is in such desperate straits? When people continue to suffer war, injustice, hunger, violence, and cruelty? Somber times call for sobriety, not celebration - right? Doesn't God want us to be serious?
Gratitude looks underneath the surface of things and recognizes that there is a goodness outside ourselves that truly exists even when we fail to experience it. No matter how dark or difficult life gets, it would certainly be darker if we felt there were no ultimate meaning, purpose, or significance to life - that no external goodness accompanied us all along the way.
Jesus’ final words reflected the course of his entire life. These eight words were directed to God as a final witness of Jesus’ life and ministry: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” What will your last words be? What will they reveal about your life – your values, your beliefs? How would you summarize your life in the space afforded by dying gasps? 
Had Jesus desired to do so, he could have satisfied his physical thirst. However, Jesus’ desire for water, for relief from his pain, was not as great as his desire to redeem humankind. In other words, Jesus’ thirst for us trumped his thirst for water. “I thirst” is not simply identification with human pain, but an expression of God's passion for humanity's redemption.
Faith does not come without a fight. Hope is empty apart from hardships. Love without lament is superficial. We should never imagine that we can have a deep intimate relationship with God without all the doubts, frustrations, and complaints that accompany an authentic relationship – substituting "pious froth" for "fighting the good fight of faith."
The metaphor of family is applied to the entire life and mission of the faith community. It speaks of a shared commitment, mutual responsibility, and common identity. In our self-absorbed, fragmented culture, we need this metaphor to expand the horizon of our care and compassion. After all, most of us would do anything for our families.
In the midst of the horror and madness of Jesus’ crucifixion, one lone voice of sanity arises from a completely unexpected source: a convicted death-row criminal. Somehow, in a startling turn of events, the last person anyone would expect to speak truth and sanity – a violent criminal, an evil terrorist – witnessed of the truth concerning Jesus.
The God of The Shack is not a generic God, but soundly Trinitarian. This allows the theology presented to be deeply relational, rooted in intratrinitarian love. As such, it provides some of the most profound reflections on God that I’ve come across in Christian fiction. Because the essence of God is love, God cannot act apart from love!
We "live" in Holy Saturday - between Cross and final Resurrection. We experience times when we feel forsaken, when we cry out “Why?” We know the heartbreak of hopelessness, the empty void that seems to stretch forever. And yet, we look forward with hope to the “impossible possibility” – the absolute surprise of grace that is resurrection.
For the sake of public perception, Christians are good at recounting stories about answered prayer. But we are not so good at sharing our disappointments. Yet, we must make some sense of unanswered prayer. Why? “It’s precisely because we believe so passionately in the power of prayer that we must also make sense of unanswered prayer.” 
To live is to face loss. This is an inevitable part of human experience. No one is exempt from this reality. If we live long enough we will inevitably lose friends, family, loved ones, our job, our health, our independence. In order to thrive in an imperfect world where loss is to be expected, we must learn how to do healthy “grief work.” 
Can one love when the object of one’s love is only capable of limited response – at best, a brief moment of recognition immediately followed by forgetfulness? Is love only real in the context of a remembered past and hopeful future, or can love be just as real when it only exists in the present moment?
