God's specialty
"He is not here. He has risen..." // Luke 24:6
I think by now, my love for Beth Moore is pretty clear. God has used her wisdom and teaching over and over again to bring me back to Him, deepen my faith, and jumpstart my passion.
Believing God is the study that started it all. It changed my perspective on faith and totally changed the way I see God and my relationship with Him. There are so many phrases and revelations and memories from that 10-week study that will forever live in my heart and mind. But perhaps my favorite is this: God's speciality is raising the dead to life.
Can I get an AMEN?!
The most incredible thing God has ever done - the very tip-top peak and pinnacle - is what we are preparing to celebrate this weekend: Easter. We celebrate God raising Jesus back to life for the purpose of making a way for us, His creation, to be reunited with our Creator. Resurrection.
When we look at the cross, we are reminded that God has the power to raise the dead to life when all hope seems lost.
Can you imagine how hopeless the disciples and Jesus' other followers felt when they saw the man who they believed to be the Savior, the Messiah, the King hanging on a cross, crucified, dead? They were no doubt afraid, sad, and probably even angry - how could you do this to us? Maybe they felt as though they had been tricked into believing a lie.
Little did they know...
"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest."
God's specialty is raising the dead to life.
Dead relationships, dead wombs, dead families, dead dreams.
When all hope seems lost, all we have to do is look to the cross. There is always, always, always hope. Hope because there is a Savior raised from the dead, waiting and willing to take on your sin, guilt, and shame and give you everlasting joy, peace, and love. Hope because the cross - and especially the empty tomb - remind us that redemption, resurrection, and raising the dead to life are what God loves to do.