RisenSample

Fully Alive

Clavius, a Roman Tribune in the movie Risen, had the goal to live a life for himself, but encountering Jesus changed everything. If we are honest, don’t we all sometimes live for ourselves?

Jesus made outrageous statements like Matthew 16:25 and Luke 9:23. Jesus is saying, “You’re better off dead!” This is a strange recruitment campaign. Today’s marketing gurus would laugh at promising death to get people to join. But today’s terrorists don’t—they’ve hijacked a page out of our playbook. The problem is, it’s our playbook. We just don’t follow it.

At the time of Christ, there were days when more than five hundred Israelites were crucified each day. They were publicly displayed where people would have to walk. Scholars suggest that when Jesus said, “Take up your cross,” He could have been standing near one of those crosses, maybe looking at it. Everybody knew He meant, “Be ready to die.”

As we see in Risen, the disciples experienced intense persecution after Jesus’ death, but were given game-changing hope and strength once news of His resurrection begin to spread and they saw the Lord with their own eyes.

As Easter approaches, reflect on this: a life of following Jesus is built on a foundation of dying to self.

The issue comes down to this: If I will not die to myself, I can’t follow Jesus. It’s not that He won’t let me follow Him. There is a “can’t” of permission, which is, “You can’t do this because I won’t let you.” Then there is a “can’t” of impossibility, which is, “You can’t do this because it is impossible.” For example, training to compete in the Olympics on an “All Twinkies Diet” will make your chances of being on the team “impossible.” The “can’t of impossibility” in following Jesus is this: Whatever I am refusing to die to will make authentically following Jesus “impossible”!

The amazing paradox is this: Dying to self looks like it leads to a life of emptiness and loss. In reality, dying to self leads to a life of joy and freedom. Why? Dead people aren’t stressed. Dead people don’t steal. Dead people aren’t enslaved by addictive behavior. Dead people aren’t weighed down by worry. Dead people don’t abandon wives and kids for a younger spouse. Dead people don’t judge, criticize, or condemn. Dead people are never jealous. Dead people are able to say no to temptation and walk out of an apartment on their way to a brand-new life. Somehow dying to sin makes me more (not less) alive!

Paul wrote, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). This is a miracle that exists for our lives because of the finished work of Jesus at the cross, and his resurrection that defeated death on that first Easter.

Die to yourself. You will never be more alive. We’re far better off dead.