Day 2608 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Colossians 3:9-10 NIV

Over the coming days the world of faith gets to celebrate the fulfillment of the greatest promise that we've ever been given. It's the culmination of not only the old law that we've failed to uphold in every way imaginable, but also the completion of the old lives that we've lived according to the ways and wants of this world. It's the celebration of the death, burial, and resurrection of our promised Savior, and the corresponding death and burial of our old lives in exchange for the rebirth into a new life filled with a desire to know Him more fully.

That's why this whole other "gospel" that this modern version of Christianity teaches bugs me so badly. What we celebrate during Easter is what matters. Not the things that we've been taught to desire. Not the pride we get from obtaining something that we've had our eyes on. Not the sense of superiority some feel in taking on a religious label. But the freedom in knowing that we've been given a new life. It's the coming of our Savior to help us see through the smoke and mirrors of worldly life so that we can begin to understand the scope of the bigger picture to which we've been called.

So it's time that we stop living like we've lived in the past. Time to stop chasing those things that the world has chosen to desire. Time to stop lying to one another and pretending that a little bit of worldliness is okay. It's time that we fully put off our old selves and step into the new version of life that our faith is meant to bring. But unfortunately, it's not an easy thing to do. It's one of those changes that requires complete submission and a kind of perseverance that our world can't comprehend. It's something that should lead to an utter disdain for the priorities of this world, not some version of religion that retains a little bit of focus on them.

Friends, the truth is that Christ was crucified because the choice we had made to model our lives upon the blueprint of our society. He carried our poor choices and foolish mistakes to the cross so that we could see the very real consequences of living a worldly life focused on worldly priorities that have us chasing worldly comforts. Good Friday has that title not because of what this world did to Jesus, but because through what Jesus endured on our behalf, we have the opportunity to see that there is something indescribably good outside the confines of this earth.

But as long as we allow our priorities to shift back and forth between salvation and worldly satisfaction, we'll never be able to grasp the power found in Christ's gift. We'll never find the peace of letting go of our selves. We'll never be able to fully press into the faith that He died to open up to us. We'll simply be stuck somewhere in the middle, caught between what's here and what He is calling us to experience.

The fact is that Easter is the celebration of our new lives. It's the reminder of what's been done to set us free from who we've been. It's this eternal call to walk out of the grave of our old lives with all those old priorities that are based on this side of eternity so that we can step into a new life spent pursing righteousness through faith in the One who gave everything to help us see there's something better than what we've known. It's not just the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It's ours as well!

That's the part that we cannot afford to overlook anymore. He doesn't call us to add Him as another piece in our lives. He doesn't ask us to make a little bit of room for Him next to all these other things that we'd still like to hold on to. He asks us to deny ourselves, to lay down all we've known and all we've been so that He can fill our hearts with everything we'll never find here. But it takes everything. He deserves everything. So it's time that we stop holding back and fully embrace the new that He paid to offer us.

I pray that this Easter weekend isn't just one that comes and goes with little more than some colorful eggs and an early-morning church service. I hope that it marks the end of the old and the beginning of something new. I hope that we all take this opportunity to get rid of some things that have kept Christ at a distance. I hope that we take a good look at our lives and the choices we're making in them and ask ourselves if that's what Jesus died to give us. Or if maybe there's still a bit of this world taking up space that should be His.

We live in a world that isn't too big on change or doing something new. But when it comes to our faith, we'll never begin to understand what it means until we clear out everything that has entangled us and allow Him to actually lead us rather than trying to take that lead ourselves. Friends, I know that this world and the ways that it operates seem good enough for most. But if we're really going to follow Christ then we simply can't afford to settle for what we've always known. We have to let go of the old so that we can have more room for the new.

If it's of this world, please ditch it. Let it go. Please stop letting it take up room in your heart that Jesus ought to have. It's only when we make Him Lord of our lives that we can finally see that this world just doesn't have anything we actually need. We can spend forever looking in other places or to other things. We can use the rest of our time here doing as we've always done. Or we can find out just what He died for. Don't miss out on that gift! This world has nothing that will ever come close. And everything we’ve thought was good enough before simply can’t compete with what He accomplished for us.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold