Coming to Life

“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him
to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought
tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”
Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and
the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. (1 Kings 17:17-22)

“Elijah says, ‘Give me the boy,’ but he doesn’t keep the problem to himself, because it would crush him and overpower him. Instead he prays. He turns to the one person who can help and prays that God will move in that situation. He prays, ‘Oh, Lord, let this boy’s life return to him.’

Now there had never been a resurrection in scripture up to this point. This is the first one. Elijah is praying, ‘Lord, I want you to do what I’ve never seen you do, what no one has ever seen you do. I want you to do the impossible.” (Clive Calver)

What impossible thing might we ask God to do in our lives today?

Certain Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

Some people try to prove the existence of God based on science. Some try to prove the validity of the Resurrection of Christ based on history. As important as it is to present to the world a “reasonable faith”, there is no way we can offer proof that is beyond the shadow of a doubt. Doubt is part of our make-up as limited, flawed creatures.

But God helps us move beyond our doubts. Philosopher Blaise Pascal, who was anything but an orthodox Christian, nevertheless hit on a truth when he wrote –

“Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.”

Believing is Seeing

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

"To have faith is to believe what you can't see and the reward of faith is to see what you believe.” (St. Augustine)

It took not just seeing, but touching the body of the Resurrected Christ to convince Thomas to believe Jesus had been risen from the grave. What does it take us? What motivates us to believe?

In one way or another, our faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit, moving through Scripture, the fellowship of other Christians and worship within the faith community. We can’t often see it coming, but once it does – when the Spirit of Christ enters our heart, everything in life begins to take on more focus.

Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing. And the ultimate benefit to believing is to see the One who sees us most clearly and has given us the means to believe.

See what I mean? Can you believe it?

Look for the New Life

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5)

"We look for the resurrection of the dead." (The Nicene Creed)

The resurrection of Christ was not seen by anyone. Someday, however, in God's own time, we will witness believers who have
gone before us rise from their lifeless graves to enjoy life with the Lord forever. What an awesome sight that will be!

As we wait and watch for this to happen, it is essential that we also look for the Lord “in the land of the living." Physical resurrection is yet to come; spiritual resurrection happens each day as the Holy Spirit enters the hearts of those who have died to the world and come alive in Christ.

Look for the resurrection - wherever it can be found.