Up From The Grave He Arose

Wow! When I first began this blog I had full intentions of writing every other day. As you can see from the dates its been almost two months since I last posted. I have so much to catch up on! After a trip to Italy, a week and half with my sister and niece, and a trip to the Masters, there is so much I want to share. Today though I am just going to focus on one topic and that is the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Kyle has been sick the entire past week but was not going to miss a chance to go to the Masters. It got so bad that I ended up driving to and from Augusta. As I longed to be reading in the word yesterday morning, I just started thinking about the cross and what the resurrection has meant to me throughout my years of faith. It was funny because this one song kept coming to mind that we sang every Easter as a child. Got to love those good old hymns! This is how it went:

Up from the grave He arose;

With a triumph over His foes;

He arose a victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever with the saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ Arose!

As I was driving down the road, I just kept singing this chorus in my head over and over until I had tears in my eyes because He has indeed risen! Hallelujah! My King has Risen! I just kept singing for a while and thinking about the cross and I thought about this chapter I had read in Don’t Waste Your Life. It is titled “Boasting Only in the Cross of Christ.” I want to post two excerpts from this chapter since Piper says it so much better than I do.

“The apostle Paul said that his life and ministry were riveted on a single aim: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) That is astonishing, when you think of all the varied things Paul did, in fact, talk about. There must be a sense in which “Jesus Christ and him crucified” is the ground and sum of everything else he says. He is pushing us to see our lives with a single focus and for the cross of Christ to be that focus.” 

“Because for redeemed sinners, every good thing–indeed every bad thing that God turns for good–was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from the death of Christ, sinners get nothing but judgment. Apart from the cross of Christ, there is only condemnation. Therefore everything that you enjoy in Christ–as a Christian, as a person who trusts Christ–is owing to the death of Christ. And all your rejoicing in all things should therefore be a rejoicing in the cross where all your blessings were purchased for you at the cost of the death of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.”

As I read this quote above I can only think about the pain and suffering that Christ endured on the cross for ME, so that I would not receive judgment but instead be freed from sin and receive the gift of eternal life. One last quote from Piper: “Because of his cross, the wrath of God is taken away. Because of his cross all guilt is removed, and sins are forgiven, and perfect righteousness is imputed to us, and the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are being conformed to the image of Christ. Now that is something to celebrate! As we celebrate Easter Sunday, may we focus on and only boast in the CROSS!