So, What Do You Do Now?

Resurrection Sunday is over; most of us have been soberly reminded of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to bear upon Himself the suffering and death that we deserve for our sins so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)!

Many Christian blogs I visit on a regular basis celebrate the Resurrection in their posts and on quite a few occasions, I have left comments in agreement.

One comment I usually left was “Hallelujah! Our LORD is risen!”, and the first time I wrote it I had a prompting that has been on my mind since then — I was asked “What do you do now, then?”

I answered, “Er, Lord, love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself?”

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:37-40

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:30-31

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Luke 10:27

“Besides that,” the prompting came.

Now, I don’t receive visions or anything like that, but the Lord prompts me in His own way, and I was very quickly reminded of the excitement and joy that the Apostles and disciples must have felt upon seeing the Risen Christ, and how their hearts must have ached to tell others of the Good News!

Then I was reminded of something else more mundane — restaurant or food reviews and how we wax lyrical about how good the food is at a restaurant or how good the services or goods of a company are to our peers all the time.

Yet, we seldom, if never, ever, tell them the Good News!

If we truly rejoice in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and know in our hearts that we serve a Risen King of Kings and Lord of Lords, why aren’t we full of joy and telling others the Good News, if in fact this is the greatest piece of news to us?!

Is it really the best piece of news to me? Am I only paying lip service? Does the news of my favorite soccer team winning a match thrill me more than knowledge of the Resurrection on most days?

For that matter, why do we Christians gather in church mostly to celebrate the Resurrection, then go on about our daily lives as if nothing miraculous and joyful and worthy of true celebration ever happened?!

Where’s our joy?! Where’s our enthusiasm?! Freely we have received of the salvation that God has given through Christ Jesus His only begotten Son, yet we keep it to ourselves mostly. And it’s even hypocritical if you look at it from the angle that while many of us weep and rejoice in church over the Resurrection, nary a whisper is heard from us sharing the joy with those who have not heard the Gospel.

Why do we need so much prodding to shout the Good News from the rooftops? Contrast this reluctance to how nobody needs to point a gun to your head to sing the praises of a company or restaurant or give a glowing review of some food you’ve had to peers and family!

I myself am guilty of all these and even reluctance, because I, in my flesh, fear rejection and being ostracized, amongst other things.

But God reminds me that

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Mark 8:38

Let us examine ourselves and truly be honest to say if the news of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the best news we’ve heard and received. If you say that it is, then we ought to be shouting it from the rooftops and sharing the Gospel with everyone we come across for God has put in each of us a natural tendency to want to share our joy.

As to our fears, let us be encouraged by Paul’s exhortation to Timothy:

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel

2 Timothy 1:7-10

Soli deo Gloria!

Photograph taken from The Lawman Chronicles by Tony Miano, one of my favorite Evangelism blogs.