Reading a devotional essay by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, I was struck by the following passages:
In speaking of new life in Christ, Blumhardt writes,
"It is not at all a question of being better than you were before. The new life means that forces for life can now be seen within you, that something of God and of heaven, something holy, can grow in you. It means we can actually see that it is no longer the sinful desires that have power, but Christ's resurrection, and his life, which leads you toward wholeness.
What is God's kingdom anyway? Certainly not Christian causes or institutions. God's kingdom is the power of God. It is the rulership of God. God's kingdom is the revelation of the divine life here on earth, the birth of new hearts, new minds, new feelings, new possibilities. This is God's kingdom.
Jesus has come from God to triumph over death. Jesus Christ has come into our midst as one of us so that death can be conquered. He has laid the foundation for a completely new life, a new order. In him we can become completely different men and women in the very depth of our beings....
People may say they believe this [the resurrection]....This believe is of no help unless you and I experience Jesus as Lord....
New possibilities can dawn on us, and the more we sense these new possiblities, either in our bodies or in our souls, the more we can ask for, the more we can look for higher and greater things here on earth. Actually, there are no limits. And for this reason we can bring hope into everything, into our daily life, into everything at which we work and into anything that we touch. The power that comes from God is ready to be brought into our human situation, and in such a way as to transform it."
What powerful, impacting words these are to my heart!
The crowning evidence that Jesus was alive was not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.
~ Clarence Jordan
Taken from Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, 2003, The Plough Publishing House, Farmington, PA. pp. 350-355.
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