God's love for us in action is the accomplishment of Jesus' death for our sins and His resurrection for our new life. Jesus' resurrection shows that death has been defeated and we all can have the new life in Him. Our response to such great love is not just merely saying we love Him but to truly understand and live out what Jesus has accomplished for us. That is to know that we are bought and we are His forever that in living, we live to Him and in dying, we die unto Him. Our lives are no longer our own but to live to glorify God through good works empowered by Him.
On Good Friday, Jesus paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross for us. That was part 1 of God's love for us. If Jesus merely paid the debt for our sins, then His work was only half done. His payment for our sins could just be a license for us to continue in our sins without the fear of punishments.
The total work of salvation is only completed on Easter Morning when Jesus was raised from the death to take on the new life that He gives to everyone who receive Him. With this new life of rebirth, we are then empowered to live the life that we should - the godly life that we are created for. Grace is not just forgiveness but also power of God to live out the new life.
Here is the mind-map that summarized the meditations for Easter Morning - The Great News of Victory over Death and the New Life of and in Christ for every believers.
1. Our Response to God's Love is not simply to love God back but to fully understand His accomplishments for us and to Live Out the things that Christ has obtained for us.
2. To know that now we are truly His and we live and die unto Him. We should be able to say with Paul that for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. There is no fear in our living because dying brings us to a better place.
3. We are no longer our own but we are bought with a price. Our purpose of life is no longer to serve man but to serve God, to glorify God in our body and spirit, through the good works of His empowerment.
4. The way to live is then best summarized by Paul in Gal 2:20....
My old life is crucified with Christ on the cross;
The life that I now live in the flesh is by faith and of the faith given by Christ.
5. I am confident of my future too in Christ as in:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” ― Jim Elliot
May we live this life well and die well in the Lord and for the Lord.
Lim Liat (C) 31 March 2013